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EDITED  BY  ERNEST  RHYS 


BIOGRAPHY 


THE  OXFORD  REFORMERS 
COLET,  ERASMUS  AND  MORE 
BY    FREDERIC    SEEBOHM 

HON.LL.D.(Edin.).  UTT.D.(Camb.),  D.LiTT.(Oxf.) 


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TRAVEL     ^      SCIENCE     -^     FICTION 

THEOLOGY   &    PHILOSOPHY 

HISTORY         ^         CLASSICAL 

FOR      YOUNG      PEOPLE 

ESSAYS   -^   ORAIORY 

POETRY  &  DRAMA 

BIOGRAPHY 

REFERENCE 

ROMANCE 


IN  FOUR  STYLES  OF  BINDING:  CLOTH, 
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London:  J.  M.  DENT  &  SONS,  Ltd. 
New  York:   E.  P.   BUTTON  &  CO. 


The  OXFORD 
REFORMERS 
by  FREDERIC 
SEEBOHM® 


LONDON-PUBLISHED 
il^JMDENTSSONSe 
(AND  IN  NEW  YORK 
BYEPDUTTONScb 


(^ 


^0  t  ^^t 


s^  i 


PREFACE 


In  preparing  The  Oxford Reformersiox^^l\A\c^^Aon  in  Everyman's 
Library,  it  has  been  thought  best  to  omit  many  of  the  notes  and 
some  of  the  appendices.  Those  have  been  retained  which  ex- 
plained or  in  any  way  added  to  the  matter  contained  in  the  text. 
Those  which  gave  the  original  Latin  of  translations  or  referred 
the  reader  to  sources  and  authorities,  have  been  omitted.  In 
other  respects  this  volume  is  reprinted  from  the  third  edition 
(published  by  Messrs.  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.),  to  which 
students  must  still  be  referred. 

It  is  necessary,  I  think,  to  begin  with  this  explanation, 
because  my  father's  methods  in  all  his  historical  work  were 
those  of  a  student,  gathering  his  facts  from  original  sources 
and  justifying  his  conclusions  by  careful  reference  to  them. 

But  in  saying  this,  I  wish  to  avoid  giving  the  impression 
that  his  object  was  confined  to  providing  an  accurate  his- 
torical record  of  events.  It  was  from  a  full  and  practical  life 
that  he  devoted  what  time  he  could  to  literary  and  historical 
research,  and  in  this  he  was  influenced  by  the  belief  that  a 
better  understanding  of  the  past  would  shed  light  on  the 
problems  of  the  present  and  of  the  future.  His  days  were 
occupied  with  business  and  with  the  affairs  of  Local  Adminis- 
tration and  Education.  Throughout  his  life  he  took  a  serious 
and  thoughtful  part  in  politics,  and  was  only  prevented  by 
the  claims  of  business  from  entering  Parliament. 

In  the  endeavours  and  ideals  that  underlay  the  fellow- 
work  of  Colet,  Erasmus,  and  More,  described  in  this  volume, 
he  found  much  that  corresponded  with  the  desires  and  diffi- 
culties of  our  own  day.^  Added  to  this,  his  study  of  their 
thoughts  and  actions  gave  him  a  real  adipiration  for  their 
independence,  and  love  of  their  characters ;  his  vivid  historical 
insight  made  him  feel  they  had  been  almost  his  companions 
and  friends. 

The  Oxford  Reformers  was  first  published  in  1867,  and  was 

*  How  much  this  was  so  the  reader  will  see  clearly  expressed  in  the 
last  paragraph  of  ch.  xvi.  §  vii.  on  p.  311. 

vii 


IVI5D48'?G 


viii  The  Oxford  Reformers 

i 

reprinted  in  a  revised  and  enlarged  edition  in  1869.     It  was  ' 

followed  by  a  general  historical  review  of  the  period  under  { 

the  title  of  The  Era  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,  contributed  to  \ 

the  series  of  little  volumes  called  "  Epochs  of  Modern  History."  ^ 

At  intervals  of  about  ten  years,  my  father  published  his  three  ' 

studies  in  economic  history,  viz.   The  English   Village  Com-  \ 

munity,  The  Tribal  System  in  Wales,  and  Tribal  Custom  in  \ 
Anglo-Saxon  Law. 

The  same  definite  purpose  runs  through  them  all,  of  enabling  i 

the  Past  to  throw  light  upon  the  Present  which  has  grown  ■ 

out  of  it.     The  widening  of  Christendom,  which  the  Oxford  j 
Reformers  welcomed  in  the  name  of  the  commonweal  of  the 

people  as  a  new  era,  my  father  described  as  one  wave  of  the  \ 

advancing  tide  of  modern  civilisation,   "  the  advance  in  the  \ 

art  of  living  together  in  civil  society."     In  almost  the  last  | 

paragraph  he  ever  wrote — at  the  end  of  his  researches  on  the  \ 

historical  importance  of  customary  land  measures,  which  he  j 

did  not  live  to  see  published — there  is  an  echo,  after  forty  j 

years,  of  these  very  words:  j 

"So  by  the  labours  of  many  fellow-workers  may  we  hope  j 

some  day  to  understand  better  than  we  do  what  is  involved  ! 

in  the  toilsome  path  which  humanity  has  had  in  the  past,  i 

and  it  would  seem  still  has,  to  tread  towards  the  goal  of  ' 

civilisation — the  art  of  living  together  in  civilised  society."  j 

HUGH  E.  SEEBOHM.       ! 

POYNDERS    End,    HlTCHIN.  '. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  Facts  of  the  Four  Gospels:  An  Essay,  1861 ;  The  Crisis  of  Emancipa- 
tion in  America,  1865;  The  Oxford  Reformers  of  1498:  a  History  of  the 
Fellow- worli  of  John  Colet,  Erasmus,  and  Thomas  More,  1867  (second 
edition  revised  and  enlarged,  1869);  How  can  Compulsory  Education  be 
made  to  Work  in  England?  .  .  .  (reprinted,  with  alterations,  from  the 
Fortnightly  Review),  1870;  On  International  Reform,  1871;  The  Era  of 
the  Protestant  Revolution,  1874;  The  English  Village  Community 
examined  in  its  Relations  to  the  Manorial  and  Tribal  Systems,  1883;  The 
Tribal  System  in  Wales,  1895;  Tribal  Custom  in  Anglo-Saxon  Law,  1902; 
Customary  Acres  and  their  Historical  Importance,  1914. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

1.  John  Colet  Returns  from  Italy  to  Oxford  (1496) 

2.  The  Rise  of  the  New  Learning  (1453-92) 

3.  Colet's  Previous  History  (1496) 

4.  Thomas  More,  another  Oxford  Student  (1492-96) 

5.  Colet  first  hears  of  Erasmus  (1496) 


PAGE 

I 

2 

8 

13 

x6 


CHAPTER  II 

1.  Colet's  Lectures  on  St.   Paul's  Epistle  to  the   Romans 

(1496-97?) 17 

2.  Visit  from  a  Priest  during  the  Winter  Vacation  (1496-97?)  24 

3.  Colet  on  the  Mosaic  Account  of  the  Creation  (1497?)    .  27 

4.  Colet    Studies  Afresh    the    Pseudo-Dionysian    Writings 

(1497?) 35 

5.  Colet  Lectures  on  "  i  Corinthians"  (1497?)    ...  46 

6.  Grocyn's  Discovery  (1498?) -53 


CHAPTER  III 

1.  Erasmus  Comes  to  Oxford  (1498)       .... 

2.  Table-talk  on  the  Sacrifice  of  Cain  and  Abel  (1498?) 

3.  Conversation  between  Colet  and  Erasmus  on  the  School 

MEN    (1498    OR    1499)  ...... 

4.  Erasmus  Falls  in  Love  with  Thomas  More  (1498)    . 

5.  Discussion  between  Erasmus  and  Colet  on  "  The  Agony 

IN  THE  Garden,"  and  on  the  Inspiration  of  the  Scrip 
TURES  (1499) 

6.  Correspondence  between  Colet  and  Erasmus  on  the  In 

tention  of  Erasmus  to  Leave  Oxford  (1499-1500) 

7.  Erasmus  Leaves  Oxford  and  England  (1500)    . 


56 

58 

6i 
68 


70 

76 

81 


CHAPTER  IV 

1.  Colet  made  Doctor  and  Dean  of  St,  Paul's  (1500-5) 

2.  More    Called    to    the    Bar  —  In    Parliament  —  Offends 

Henry  VII. — ^The  Consequences  (1500-4)     . 

3.  Thomas  More  in  Seclusion  from  Public  Life  (1504-5) 

4.  More  Studies  Pico's  Life  and  Works — His  Marriage  (1505) 

5.  How  it  had  Fared  with  Erasmus  (1500-5) 


6.  The  "  Enchiridion."  etc. 


OF  Erasmus  (1501-5). 
ix 


83 

86 
89 
92 
98 
106 


The  Oxford  Reformers 


CHAPTER  V 

PAGE 

1.  Second  Visit  of  Erasmus  to  England  (1505-6).         .         .     iii 

2.  Erasmus  again  Leaves  England  for  Italy  (1506)      .         .112 

3.  Erasmus  Visits  Italy  and  Returns  to  England  (1507-10)  .     114 

4.  More  Returns  to  Public  Life  on  the  Accession  of  Henry 

VIII.  (1509-10) 116 

5.  Erasmus  Writes  the  "  Praise  of  Folly  "  while  Resting  at 

More's  House  (1510  or  1511) iig 


CHAPTER  VI 

1.  Colet  Founds  St.  Paul's  School  (1510) 

2.  His  Choice  of  Schoolbooks  and  Schoolmasters  (1511) 


CHAPTER  VII 

1.  Convocation  for  the  Extirpation  of  Heresy  (1512) 

2.  Colet  is  Charged  with  Heresy  (15 12) 

3.  More  in  Trouble  again  (1512)  . 

CHAPTER  VIII 

1.  Colet  Preaches  against  the  Continental  Wars — The  First 

Campaign  (1512-13)        ....... 

2.  Colet's  Sermon  to  Henry  VIII.  (1513)       .... 

3.  The  Second  Campaign  of  Henry  VIII.  (1513)     • 

4.  Erasmus  Visits  the  Shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham 

(1513) 


CHAPTER  IX 

1.  Erasmus    Leaves    Cambridge,    and    Meditates    Leaving 

England  (1513-14)        .......     172 

2.  Erasmus  and  the  Papal  Ambassador  (1514)       •  •  .     175 

3.  Parting  Intercourse  between  Erasmus  and  Colet  (1514)     177 


CHAPTER  X 

1.  Erasmus  Goes  to  Basle  to  Print  his  New  Testament  (1514)     183 

2.  Erasmus   Returns  to   England — His  Satire   upon   Kings 

(1515) 190 

3.  Returns  to   Basle  to   Finish  his  Works — Fears  of  the 

Orthodox  Party  (1515)         ......     194 


CHAPTER  XI 

I.  The  "  Novum  Instrumentum  "  Completed — What  it  Really 
was  (1516)    ......... 


Contents 


XI 


CHAPTER  XII 

PAGE 

1.  More  Immersed  in  Public  Business  (1515)         •         •         •     210 

2.  Colet's  Sermon  on  the  Installation  of  Cardinal  Wolsey 

(1515) 214 

3.  More's  "Utopia"  (1515)     .......  216 

4.  The  "  Institutio  Principis  Christiani  "  of  Erasmus  (1516)  229 

5.  More  Completes  his  "  Utopia  " — the  Introductory  Book 

(15x6) 236 

CHAPTER  XIII 

1.  What   Colet   Thought   of  the   "Novum    Instrumentum  " 

(1516) 245 

2.  Reception    of    the    "  Novum    Instrumentum  "    in    other 

Quarters  (1516)   ........  249 

3.  Martin  Luther  Reads  the  "  Novum  Instrumentum  "  (1516)  252 

4.  The  "  EpiSTOLiE  Obscurorum  Virorum  "  (1516-17)       .         .  255 
■S.  The    "  Pythagorica  "    and    "  Cabalistica  "    of    Reuchlin 

(1517) 258 

6.  More  Pays  a  Visit  to  Coventry  (1517?)    ....     259 


CHAPTER  XIV 

1.  The  Sale  of  Indulgences  {1517-18)  . 

2.  More  Drawn  into  the  Service  of  Henry  VIII.- 

Leaves  Germany  for  Basle  (15 18) 


Erasmus 


263 
268 


CHAPTER  XV 

1.  Erasmus  Arrives  at  Basle — His  Labours  There  (1518) 

2.  The  Second  Edition  of  the  New  Testament  (1518-19) . 

3.  Erasmus's  Health  Gives  Way  (1518) 


272 
277 
285 


CHAPTER  XVI 

1.  Erasmus  does  not  Die  {1518)     .  .  .  .  . 

2.  More  at  the  Court  of  Henry  VIII.  (1518) 

3.  The  Evening  of  Colet's  Life  (1518-19) 

4.  More's  Conversion  Attempted  by  the  Monks  (1519) 

5.  Erasmus  and  the  Reformers  of  Wittemberg  (1519). 

6.  Election  of  Charles  V.  to  the  Empire  (1519) 

7.  The  Hussites  of  Bohemia  (1519) 

8.  More's  Domestic  Life  (1519) 

9.  Death  of  Colet  (1519)        .... 
10.  Conclusion  ...... 


286  ) 

287  ] 

288  I 
294  ] 
298  \ 
302 

303  : 
3" 

315  i 

317  ] 


APPENDICES 

A.  On  the  Date  of  More's  Birth  ...... 

B.  Ecclesiastical  Titles  and  Preferments  of  Dean  Colet,  in 

Order  of  Time    ........ 

Index  .......... 


321 


327 
329 


~1 


THE    OXFORD    REFORMERS    ; 

COLET,  ERASMUS,  AND  MORE  I 

■i 

CHAPTER  I  ; 

I.  JOHN  COLET  RETURNS  FROM  ITALY  TO  OXFORD  (1496)    i 

It  was  probably  in  Michaelmas  term  of  1496  that  the  announce-  ' 
ment  was  made  to  doctors  and  students  of  the  University  of  Oxford  j 
that  John  Colet,  a  late  student,  recently  returned  from  Italy,  ; 
was  about  to  deliver  a  course  of  public  and  gratuitous  lectures  in  \ 
exposition  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles.  ; 

This  was  an  event  of  no  small  significance  and  perhaps  of  ; 
novelty  in  the  closing  years  of  that  last  of  the  Middle  Ages;  not  j 
only  because  the  Scriptures  for  some  generations  had  been  \ 
practically  ignored  at  the  Universities,  but  still  more  so  because  \ 
the  would-be  lecturer  had  not  as  yet  entered  deacon's  orders,  \ 
nor  had  obtained,  or  even  tried  to  obtain,  any  theological  degree.  \ 
It  is  true  that  he  had  passed  through  the  regular  academical  j 
course  at  Oxford,  and  was  entitled,  as  a  Master  of  Arts,  to  < 
lecture  upon  any  other  subject.  But  a  degree  in  Arts  did  not,  | 
it  would  seem,  entitle  the  graduate  to  lecture  upon  the  Bible.        ! 

It  does  not  perhaps  follow  from  this,  that  Colet  was  guilty  of  j 
any  flagrant  breach  of  university  statutes,  which,  as  a  graduate  \ 
in  Arts,  he  must  have  sworn  to  obey.  The  v^ry  extent  to  which  \ 
real  studj^of  the, Scdptures.  had  become  .QbsQlete  Oxlord,  may  j 
possi51y*suggest  that  even  the  statutory  restrictions  on  Scripture  j 
lectures  may  have  become  obsolete  also.  ; 

Before  the  days  of  Wiclif,  the  Bible  had  been  free,  and  Bishop  ; 
Grosseteste  could  urge  Oxford  students  to  devote  their  best  1 
morning  hours  to  Scripture  lectures.  But  an  unsuccessful  revo-  ' 
ution  ends  in  tightening  the  chains  which  it  ought  to  have 
Token.  During  the  fifteenth  century  the  Bible  was  not  freew^ 
.\nd  Scripture  lectures,  though  still  retaining  a  nominal  place  in  ' 
re  academical  course  of  theological  study,  were  thrown  into    ! 

e  background  by  the  much  greater  relative  importance  of  the  j 
^i  tures  on  "the  Sentences."  What  Biblical  lectures  were  I 
^'lven  were  probably  of  a  very  formal  character.  | 

A 


2  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1496 

The  announcement  by  Colet  of  this  course  of  lectures  on 
St.  Paul's  Epistles  was  in  truth,  so  far  as  can  be  traced,  the 
first  overt  act  in  a  mpyement  commenced  at  Oxford  in  the 
direction  of  practical  Christian  reforra.r-a  movement,  some  of 
the  results  of  which,  had  they  been  gifted  with  prescience,  might 
well  have  filled  the  minds  of  the  Oxford  doctors  with  dismay. 

They  could  not  indeed  foresee  that  those  very  books  of  "  the 
Sentences,"  over  which  they  had  pored  so  intently  for  so  many 
years,  in  order  to  obtain  the  degree  of  Master  in  Theology,  and 
at  which  students  were  still  patiently  toiling  with  the  same 
^  object  in  view — they  could  not  foresee  that,  within  forty  years, 
these  very  books  would  "  be  utterly  banished  from  Oxford," 
ignominiously  "  nailed  up  upon  posts  "  as  waste  paper,  their 
loose  leaves  strewn  about  the  quadrangles  until  some  sportsman 
should  gather  them  up  and  thread  them  on  a  line  to  keep  the 
deer  within  the  neighbouring  woods.  They  could  not,  indeed, 
foresee  the  end  of  the  movement  then  only  beginning,  but  still, 
the  announcement  of  Colet's  lectures  was  likely  to  cause  them 
some  uneasiness.  They  may  well  have  asked,  whether,  if  the 
exposition  of  the  Scriptures  were  to  be  really  revived  at  Oxford, 
so  dangerous  a  duty  should  not  be  restricted  to  those  duly  autho- 
rised to  discharge  it?  Was  every  stripling  who  might  travel  as 
far  as  Italy  and  return  infected  with  the^'*  new  learning  "  to  be 
allowed  to  set  up  himself  as  a  theological"  teacher,  without 
graduating  in  divinity,  and  without  waiting  for  decency's  sake 
for  the  bishop's  ordination  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  any  Oxford  graduate  choosing  to  adopt 
so  irregular  a  course,  must  have  been  perfectly  aware  that  it 
would  be  one  likely  to  stir  up  opposition,  and  even  ill-will, 
amongst  the  older  divines;  and  it  may  be  presumed  that  he 
hardly  would  have  ventured  upon  such  a  step  without  knowing 
that  there  were  at  the  university  others  ready  to  support  him. 

II.   THE  RISE   OF  THE   NEW  LEARNING  (1453-92) 

In  all  ages,  more  or  less,  there  is  a  new  school  of  thought  rising 
up  under  the  eyes  of  an  older  school  of  thought.  And  probably 
in  all  ages  the  men  of  the  old  school  regard  with  some  little 
anxiety  the  ways  of  the  men  of  the  new  school.  Never  is  it 
more  likely  to  be  so  than  at  an  epoch  of  sharp  transition,  like  that 
on  which  the  lot  of  these  Oxford  doctors  had  been  cast. 

We  sometimes  speak  as  though  our  age  were  par  excellence 
.the  age  of  progress.     Theirs  was  much  more  so  if  we  duly  con- 


i49<5]  The  New  Learning  3 

sider  it.  The  youth  and  manhood  of  some  of  them  had  been 
spent  in  days  which  may  well  have  seemed  to  be  the  latter  days 
of  Christendom.  They  had  seen  Constantinople  taken  by  the 
Turks.  The  final  conquest  of  Christendom  by  the  infidel  was 
a  possibility  which  had  haunted  all  their  visions  of  the  future. 
Were  not  Christian  nations  driven  up  into  the  north-western 
extremity  of  the  known  world,  a  wide  pathless  ocean  lying 
beyond?  Had  not  the  warlike  creed  of  Mahomet  steadily 
encroached  upon  Christendom,  century  by  century,  stripping  her 
first  of  her  African  churches,  from  thence  fighting  its  way  north- 
ward into  Spain?  Had  it  not  maintained  its  foothold  in 
Spain's  fairest  provinces  for  seven  hundred  years?  And  from 
the  East  was  it  not  steadily  creeping  over  Europe,  nearer  and 
nearer  to  Venice  and  Rome,  in  spite  of  all  that  crusades  could 
do  to  stop  its  progress?  If,  though  little  more  than  half  the 
age  of  Christianity,  it  had  already,  as  they  reckoned  it  had, 
drawn  into  its  communion  five  times  ^  as  many  votaries  as  there 
were  Christians  left,  was  it  a  groundless  fear  that  now  in  these 
latter  days  it  might  devour  the  remaining  sixth?  What  could 
hinder  it? 

A  Spartan  resistance  on  the  part  of  united  Christendom 
perhaps  might.  But  jChristendpm  was  not  united,  nor  capable 
of  Spartan  discipline.  Her  internal  condition  seemed  to  show 
signs  almost  of  approaching  dissolution.  The  shadow  of  the 
great  Papal  schism  still  brooded  over  the  destinies  of  the  Church. 
That  schism  had  been  ended  only  by  a  revolution  which,  under 
the  gaidance  of  Gerson,  had  left  the  Pope  the  constitutional 
instead  of  the  absolute  monarch  of  the  Church.  The  great 
heresies  of  the  preceding  century  had,  moreover,  not  yet  been 
extinguished.  The  very  names  of  Wiclif  and  Huss  were  still 
names  of  terror.  Lollardy  had  been  crushed,  but  it  was  not 
dead.  Everywhere  the  embers  of  schism  and  revolution  were 
still  smouldering  underneath,  ready  to  break  out  again,  in  new 
fury,  who  could  tell  how  soon? 

It  was  in  the  ears  of  this  apparently  doomed  generation  that 
the  double  tidings  came  of  the  discovery  of  the  Terra  Nova  in  the 
West,  and  of  the  expulsion  of  the  infidel  out  of  Spain. 

The  ice  of  centuries  suddenly  was  broken.    The  universal 

*  "  The  Turks  being  in  number  five  times  more  than  we  Christians." 
And  again,  "  Which  multitude  is  not  the  fifth  part  so  many  as  they  that 
consent  to  the  law  of  Mahomet." — Works  of  Tyndale  and  Frith,  ii.  pp.  55 
and  74. 


4                  The  Oxford  Reformers              [1496  j 

despondency  at  once  gave  way  before  a  spirit  of  enterprise  and 

hope;  and  it  has  been  well  observed,  men  began  to  congratulate  : 

each  other  that  their  lot  had  been  cast  upon  an  age  in  which  such  , 

wonders  were  achieved.  \ 

Even  the  men  of  the  old  school  could  appreciate  these  facts  j 

in  a  fashion.    The  defeat  of  the  Moors  was  to  them  a  victory  ■ 

to  the  Church.    The  discovery  of  the  New  World  extended  her  i 
dominion.    They  gloried  over  both. 

But  these  outward  facts  were  but  the  index  to  an  internal  j 

upheaving  of  the  mind  of  Christendom,  to  which  they  were  blind.  \ 

The  men  who  were  guiding  the  great  external  revolution —  : 

reformers  in  their  way — were  blindly  stamping  out  the  first  j 

symptoms  of  this  silent  upheaving.    Gerson,  while  carrying  I 

reform  over  the  heads  of  Popes,  and  deposing  them  to  end  the  \ 

schism  or  to  preserve  the  unity  of  the  Church,  was  at  the  same  .■ 

moment  using  all  his  influence  to  crush  Huss  and  Jerome  of  j 

Prague.    Queen  Isabella  and  Ximenes,  Henry  VII.  and  Morton,  j 

while  sufficiently  enlightened  to  pursue  maritime  discovery,  < 

to  reform  after  a  fashion  the  monasteries  under  their  rule,  and  < 

ready  even  to  combine  to  reform  the  morals  of  the  Pope  himself  { 

in  order  to  avert  the  dreaded  recurrence  of  a  schism,^  were  not  I 

eager  to  pursue  these  purposes  without  the  sanction  of  Papal  ; 

bulls,  and  without  showing  their  zeal  for  the  Papacy  by  crushing  j 

out  free  thought  with  an  iron  heel  and  zealously  persecuting  ; 

heretics,  whether  their  faith  were  that  of  the  Moor,  the  Lollard,  or  j 

the  Jew.  I 

The  fall  of  Constantinople,  which  had  sounded  almost  like  the  1 
./'death-knell  of  Christendom,  had  proved  itself  in  truth  the  chief 

cause  of  her  revival.    The  advance  of  the  Saracens  upon  Europe  ] 
had  already  told  upon  the  European  mind.    The  West  had 

always  had  much  to  learn  from  the  East.    It  was,  for  instance,  ; 

by  translation  from  Arabic  versions  that  Aristotle  had  gained  such  1 

influence  over  those  very  same  scholastic  minds  to  which  his  ; 

native  Greek  was  an  abomination.  \ 

This  further  triumph  of  infidel  arms  also  influenced  Christian  ■ 

thought.    Eastern  languages  and  Eastern  philosophies  began  j 

V^to  be  studied  afresh  in  the  West.    Exiles  who  had  fled  into  Italy  | 

1  See  British  Museum  Library,  under  the  head  "  Garcilaso,"  No.  1445,  I 

g  23,  being  the  draft  of  private  instructions  from  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  \ 

to  the  special  English  Ambassador,  and  headed,  "  Year  1498.     The  King  > 

and  Queen  concerning  the  correction  of  Alexander  VI."     The  original  . 

Spanish  MS.  was  in  the  hands  of  the  late  B.  B.  Wiffen,  Esq.,  of  Mount  ; 

Pleasant,  near  Woburn,  and  an  English  translation  of  this  important  , 

document  was  reprinted  by  him  in  the  "  Life  of  Valdes,"  prefixed  to  a  < 

translation  of  his  CX  Considerations.     Lond.  Quaritch,  1865,  p.  24.  1 


1496]                  The  New  Learning                      5  \ 

had  brought  with  them  their  Eastern  lore.     The  invention  of  | 

printing  had  come  just  in  time  to  aid  the  revival  of  learning.  | 

The  printing  press  v/as  pouring  out  in  clear  and  beautiful  type  1 

new  editions  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics.     Art  and  science  ! 

with  literature  sprang  up  once  more  into  life  in  Italy;   and  to  | 

Italy,  and  especially  to  Florence,  which,  under  the  patronage  | 
of  the  splendid  court  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  seemed  to  form  the 

most  attractive  centre,  students  from  all  nations  eagerly  thronged .  I 

It  was  of  necessity  that  the  sudden  reproduction  of  the  Greek  ] 

philosophy  and  the  works  of  the  older  Neo-rPlatonists  in  Italy  ! 

should  sooner  or  later  produce  a  new  crisis  in  religion.    A  \ 

thousand  years  before,  Christianity  and  Neo-Platonism  had  i 
been  brought  into  the  closest  contact.     Christianity  was  then 

in  its    youth — comparatively   pure — and   in  the  struggle  for  ; 

mastery  had  easily  prevailed.     Not  that  Neo-Platonism  was  j 
indeed  a  mere  phantom  which  vanished  and  left  no  trace  behind 
it.     By  no  means.     Through  the  pseudo-Dionysian  writings  it*^! 

not  only  influenced  profoundly  the  theology  of  mediaeval  mystics,  ' 

but  also  entered  largely  even  into  the  Scholastic  system.     It  was  ' 

thus  absorbed  into  Christian  theology  though  lost  as  a  philosophy,  i 

IsTow,  alter  the  lapse  of  a  thousand  years,  the  same  battle  ' 
had  to  be  fought  again.  But  with  this  terrible  difference; 
that  now  Christianity,  in  the  impurest  form  it  had  ever  assumed^ 
— a  grotesque  perversion  of  Christianity — had  to  cope  with  the 
purest  and  noblest  of  the  Greek  philosophies.  It  was,  there- 
fore, almost  a  matter  of  course  that,  under  the  patronage  of 
Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  the  Platonic  Academy  under  Marsilio  Ficino 
should  carry  everything  before  it.  Whether  the  story  were 
literally  true  of  Ficino  himself  or  not,  that  he  kept  a  lamp 
burning  in  his  chamber  before  a  bust  of  Plato,  as  well  as  before 
that  of  the  Virgin,  it  was  at  least  symbolically  true  of  the  most 

accomplished  minds  of  Florence.  | 

Questions  which  had  slept  since  the  days  of  Julian  and  liis  j 

successors  were  discussed  again  under  Sixtus  IV.  and  Innocent  j 

VIII.    The.  leading  minds  of  Italy  were  once  more  seeking  for  1 

a  reconciliation  between  Plato  and  Christianity  in  the  works  of  \ 

the  pseudo-Dionysius,  Macrobius,  Plotinus,  Proclus,  and  other  i 

Neo-Platonists.    'Hhere  was  the  same  anxious  endeavour,  as  a  | 

thousand  years  earlier,  to  fuse  all  philosophies  into  one.    ^lato  • 

and  Aristotle  must  be  reconciled,  as  well  as  Christianity  and  ; 

Plato.     The  old  world  was  becoming  once  more  the  possession  ' 
ofihe  new.     It  was  felt  to  be  the  recovery  of  a  lost  inheritance, 

and  everything  of  antiquity,  whether  Greek,  Roman,  Jewish,  ; 


6  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1496 

Persian,  or  Arabian,  was  regarded  as  a  treasure.  It  was  the 
fault  of  the  Christian  Church  if  the  grotesque  form  of  Chris- 
tianity held  up  by  her  to  a  reawakening  world  seemed  less  pure 
and  holy  than  the  aspirations  of  Pagan  philosophers.  It  would 
be  by  no  merit  of  hers,  but  solely  by  its  own  intrinsic  power,  if 
Christianity  should  retain  its  hold  upon  the  mind  of  Europe,  in 
spite  of  its  ecclesiastical  defenders. 
f^  Christianity  brought  into  disrepute  by  the  conduct  of  pro- 
fessed Christians,  was  compelled  to  rest  as  of  old  upon  its  own 
intrinsic  merits,  to  stand  the  test  of  the  most  searching  scientific 
criticisms  which  Florentine  philosophers  were  able  to  apply  to 
JjU  Men  versed  in  Plato  and  Aristotle  were  not  without  some 
notion  of  the  value  of  intrinsic  evidence,  and  the  methods  of 
inductive  inquiry.  Ficino  himself  thought  it  well,  discarding 
the  accustomed  scholastic  interpreters,  to  turn  the  light  of  his 
Platonic  lamp  upon  the  Christian  religion.  From  his  work,  De 
Religione  Christiana^  dedicated  to  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  and 
written  in  1474,  some  notion  may  be  gained  of  the  method  and 
results  of  his  criticism.  That  its  nature  should  be  rightly 
y  understood  is  important  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the 
Oxford  Reformers. 

Ficino  commences  his  argument  by  demonstrating  that  re- 
ligion is  natural  to  man;  and  having,  on  Platonic  authority, 
pointed  out  the  truth  of  the  one  common  religion,  and  that  all 
religions  have  something  of  good  in  them,  he  turns  to  the  Chris- 
tian religion  in  particular.  Its  truth  he  tries  to  prove  by  a 
chain  of  reasoning  of  which  the  following  are  some  of  the  links. 

He  first  shows  that  "  the  disciples  of  Jesus  were  not  deceivers," 
and  he  supports  this  by  examining,  in  a  separate  chapter,  "  in 
what  spirit  the  disciples  of  Christ  laboured;  "  concluding,  after  a 
careful  analysis  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Epistles,  that 
they  did  not  seek  their  own  advantage  or  honour  but  "  the  glory 
of  Christ  alone."  Then  he  shows  that  "  the  disciples  of  Christ 
were  not  deceived  by  any  one,"  and  that  the  Christian  religion 
was  founded,  not  in  human  wisdom,  but  "  in  the  wisdom  and 
power  of  God;  "  that  Christ  was  "  no  astrologer,"  but  "  derived 
his  authority  from  God."  He  adduced  further  the  evidence  of 
miracles,  in  which  he  had  no  difficulty  in  beHeving,  for  he  gave 
two  instances  of  miracles  which  had  occurred  in  Florence  only 
four  years  previously,  and  in  which  he  declared  to  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici,  that,  philosopher  as  he  was,  he  believed.  After  citing 
the  testimony  of  some  Gentile  writers,  and  of  the  Coran  of  the 
Mahometans,  and  discussing  in  the  light  of  Plato,  Zoroaster, 


1496]  Marsilio  Ficino  7 

and  Dionysius,  the  doctrine  of  the  "  logos/'  and  the  fitness  of  the 
incarnation,  he  showed  that  the  result  of  the  coming  of  Christ 
was  that  men  are  drawn  to  love  with  their  whole  heart  a  God 
who  in  his  immense  love  had  himself  become  man.  After  dwell-\ 
ing  on  the  way  in  which  Christ  lightened  the  burden  of  sin,  on\ 
the  errors  he  dispelled,  the  truths  he  taught,  and  the  example! 
he  set,  Ficino  proceeds  in  two  short  chapters  to  adduce  the 
testimony  of  the  "  Sibyls."  This  was  natural  to  a  writer  whose*^ 
bias  it  was  to  regard  as  genuine  whatever  could  be  proved  to  be 
ancient.  But  it  is  only  fair  to  state  that  he  relies  much  more 
fully  and  discusses  at  far  greater  length  the  prophecies  of  the 
ancient  Hebrew  prophets,  vindicating  the  Christian  rendering 
of  certain  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  against  the  Jews,  who 
accused  the  Christians  of  having  perverted  and  depraved  them. 
He  concludes  by  asserting,  that  if  there  be  much  in  Christianity 
which  surpasses  human  comprehension,  this  is  a  proof  of  its 
divine  character  rather  than  otherwise.  These  are  his  final 
words.  *'  If  these  things  be  divine,  they  must  exceed  the  capa- 
city of  any  human  mind.  Faith  (as  Aristotle  has  it)  is  the 
foundation  of  knowledge.  By  faith  alone  (as  the  Platonists 
prove)  we  ascend  to  God.  *  I  believed  (said  David)  and  there- 
fore have  I  spoken.'  Believing,  therefore,  and  approaching  the 
fountain  of  truth  and  goodness  we  shall  drink  in  a  wise  and 
blessed  life." 

Thus  was  the  head  of  the  Platonic  Academy  at  Florence 
turning  a  critical  eye  upon  Christianity,  viewing  it  very  possibly 
too  much  in  the  light  of  the  lamp  kept  continually  burning 
before  the  bust  of  Plato,  but  still,  I  think,  honestly  endeavouring 
upon  its  own  intrinsic  evidence  and  by  inductive  methods,  to 
establish  a  reasonable  belief  in  its  divine  character  in  minds 
sceptical  of  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  over  whom  the  dog-j 
matic  methods  of  the  Schoolmen  had  lost  their  power.^  Never-  j 
theless  Ficino,  as  yet,  was  probably  more  of  an  intellectual  than^  '• 
of  a  practical  Christian,  and  Christianity  was  not  likely  to  take  \ 
hold  of  the  mind  of  Italy — of  re-awakening  Europe — through  ; 
any  merely  philosophical  disquisitions.  The  lamp  of  Plato 
might  throw  light  on  Christianity,  but  it  would  not  light  up  j 
Christian  fire  in  other  souls.  For  Christianity  is  a  thing  of  the  ^j 
heart,  not  only  of  the  head.     Soul  is  kindled  only  by  soul,  says     i 

^  Villari,  in  his  Life  and  Times  of  Savonarola,  book  i.  chap,  iv.,  does 
not  seem  to  me  to  give,  by  any  means,  a  fair  abstract  of  the  De  Religione 
Christiand,  though  his  chapter  on  Ficino  is  valuable  in  other  respects.      ' 
I  have  used  the  edition  of  Paris,  1510.  ! 


8  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1496 

Carlyle;  and  to  teach  religion  the  one  thing  needful  is  to  find  a 
man  who  has  religion.^  Should  such  a  man  arise,  a  man  himself 
on  fire  with  Christian  love  and  zeal,  his  torch  might  light  up 
other  torches,  and  the  fire  be  spread  from  torch  to  torch.  But, 
until  such  a  man  should  arise,  the  lamp  of  philosophy  must  burn 
alone  in  Florence.  Men  might  come  from  far  and  near  to  listen 
to  Marsilio  Ficino  —  to  share  the  patronage  of  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici,  to  study  Plato  and  Plotinus — to  learn  how  to  harmonise 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  to  master  the  Greek  language  and  philo- 
sophies— to  drink  in  the  spirit  of  reviving  learning — but,  of  true 
Christian  religion,  the  lamp  had  not  yet  been  lit  at  Florence,  or 
if  lit  it  was  under  a  bushel. 

Already  Oxford  students  had  been  to  Italy,  and  returned 
full  of  the  new  learning.  Grocyn,  one  of  them,  had  for  some 
time  been  publicly  teaching^Greekat  Oiifbrd,  not  altogether  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  old  divines,  for  the  Latin  of  the  Vulgate 
was,  in  their  eye,  the  orthodox  language,  and  Greek  a  Pagan 
and  heretical  tongue.  Linacre,  too,  had  been  to  Italy  and 
returned,  after  sharing  with  the  children  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici 
the  tuition  of  Politian  and  Chalcondyles.^ 

These  men  had  been  to  Italy  and  had  returned,  to  all  appear- 
ances, mere  humanists.  NoT^y.  fiye  years  later  Colet  had  been 
to  Italy  and  had  returned^  not  a  mere  humanist,  but  an  earnest 
Christian  reformer,  bent  upon  giving  lectures,  not  upon  Plato 
or  Plotinus,  but  upon  St.  Paul's  Epistles.  What  had imppeued 
during  these  four  years  to  account  for  the  change? 


III.  colet's  previous  history  (1496) 

John  Colet  was  the  eldest  son  of  Sir  Henry  Colet,  a  wealthy 
merchant,  who  had  been  more  than  once  Lord  Mayor  of  London, 
and  was  in  favour  at  the  court  of  Henry  VII.  His  father's 
position  held  out  to  him  the  prospect  of  a  brilliant  career.  He 
had  early  been  sent  to  Oxford,  and  there,  having  passed  through 
the  regular  course  of  study  in  all  branches  of  scholastic  philo- 
sophy, he  had  taken  his  degree  of  Master  of  Arts. 

On  the  return  of  Grocyn  and  Linacre  from  Italy  full  of  the 
new  learning,  Colet  had  apparently  caught  the  contagion.    For 

1  Chartism,  chap.  x.  "  Impossible." 

-  The  period  of  the  stay  of  Grocyn  and  Linacre  in  Italy  was  probably 
between  1485  and  1491.  They  therefore  probably  returned  to  England 
before  the  notorious  Alexander  VI.  succeeded,  in  1492,  to  Innocent  VIII. 
See  Johnson's  Life  of  Linacre,  pp.  103-150. 


1496]  Colet  in  Italy  9  \ 

we  are  told  he  "  eagerly  devoured  Cicero,  and  carefully  examined  j 

the  works  of  Plato  and  Plotinus."  ! 

When  the  time  had  come  for  him  to  choose  a  profession,  ! 

instead  of  deciding  to  follow  up  the  chances  of  commercial  life,  ; 

or  of  royal  favour,  he  had  resolved  to  take  Orders.  *""  I 

The  death  of  twenty-one  brothers  and  sisters,  leaving  him  : 
the  sole  survivor  of  so  large  a  family,  may  well  have  given  a 

serious  turn  to  his  thoughts.     But  inasmuch  as  family  influence  ■ 
was  ready  to  procure  him  immediate  preferment,  the  path 
he  had  chosen  need  not  be  construed  into  one  of  great  self-**' 

denial.     It  was  not  until  long  after  he  had  been  presented  to  ] 

a  living  in  Suffolk  and  a  prebend  in  Yorkshire,  that  he  left  : 

Oxford,  probably  in  or  about  1494,  for  some  years  of  foreign  ' 

travel.^  ' 

The  little  information  which  remains  to  us  of  what  Colet  did  j 

on  his  continental  journey  is  very  soon  told.  * 

He  went  first  into  France  and  then  into  Italy.    On  his  way  I 

there,  or  on  his  return  journey,  he  met  with  some  German  ; 
monks,  of  whose  primitive  piety  and  purity  he  retained  a  vivid 

recollection.     In  Italy  he  ardently  pursued  his  studies.     But  , 

he  no  longer  devoted  himself  to  the  works  of  Plato  and  Plotinus.  \ 

In  Italy,  the  hotbed  of  the  Neo-Platonists,  he  "  gave  himself  up''  i 

(we  are  told)  "^  to  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,"  after  having,  i 

however,  first  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  works  of  the  ! 

Fathers,  including  amongst  them  the  mystic  writings  then  attri-  ' 

buted  to  Dionysius  the  Areopagite.   He  acquired  a  decided  pre-  1 

ference  for  the  works  of  Dionysius,  Origen,  Ambrose,  Cyprian,  ; 

and  Jerome  over  those  of  Augustine.    Scotus,  Aquinas,  and  ■ 

other  Schoolmen  had  each  shared  his  attention  in  due  course.  ; 

He  is  said  also  to  have  diligently  studied  during  this  period  Civil  ' 

and  Canon  Law,  and  especially  what  Chronicles  and  English  i 

classics  he  could  lay  his  hands  on;  and  his  reason  for  doing  so  is  i 

remarkable — that  he  might,  by  familiarity  with  them,  polish  his  ; 

style,  and  so  prepare  himself  for  the  great  work  of  preaching  the  | 

Gospel  in  England.  ; 

What  it  was  that  had  turned  his  thoughts  in  this  direction 
no  record  remains  to  tell.  Yet  the  knowledge  of  what  was  pass\ 
ing  in  Italy,  while  Colet  was  there,  surely  may  give  a  clue,  not 
likely  to  mislead,  to  the  explanation  of  what  otherwise  might 
remain  wholly  unexplained.  To  have  been  in  Italy  when  Grocyn 
and  Linacre  were  in  Italy — between  the  years  1485  and  1491 — 
was,  as  we  have  said,  to  have  drunk  at  the  fountain-head  of 
1  See  list  of  Colet's  preferments  in  the  Appendix. 


lo  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1496 

reviving  learning,  and  to  have  fallen  under  the  fascinating 
influence  of  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  and  the  Platonic  Academy — an 
influence  more  likely  to  foster  the  selfish  coldness  of  a  semi- 
pagan  philosophy  than  to  inspire  such  feelings  as  those  with 
which  Colet  seems  to  have  returned  from  his  visit  to  Italy .^ 

But  in  the  meantime  Lorenzo  had  died,  the  tiara  had  changed 
hands,  and  events  were  occurring  during  Colet' s  stay  in  Italy — 
probably  in  1495 — which  may  well  have  stirred  in  his  breast  the 
earnest  resolution  to  devote  his  life  to  the  work  of  religious  and 
political  reform. 

For  to  have  been  in  Italy  while  Colet  was  in  Italy  was  to 
have  come  face  to  face  with  Rome  at  the  time  when  the  scandals 
gf  Alexander  VI.  and  Caesar  Borgia  were  in  every  one's  mouth; 
to  have  been  brought  into  contact  with  the  very  worst  scandals 
which  had  ever  blackened  the  ecclesiastical  system  of  Europe, 
at  the  very  moment  when  they  reached  their  culminating 
point. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  have  been  in  Italy  when  Colet  was  in 
Italy  was  to  have  come  into  contact  with  the  .first  rising  efforts 
at  Reform. 

If  Colet  visited  Florence  as  Grocyn  and  Linacre  had  done  before 
him,  he  must  have  come  into  direct  contact  with  Savonarola 
while  as  yet  his  fire  was  holy  and  his  star  had  not  entered  the 
mists  in  which  it  set  in  later  years. 

Recollecting  what  the  great  Prior  of  San  Marco  was — what 
his  fiery  and  all  but  prophetic  preaching  was — how  day  after 
day  his  burning  words  went  forth  against  the  sins  of  high  and 
low;  against  tyranny  in  Church  or  State;  against  idolatry  of 
philosophy  and  neglect  of  the  Bible  in  the  pulpit;  recollecting 
how  they  told  their  tale  upon  the  conscience  of  Lorenzo  de' 
Medici,  and  of  his  courtiers  as  well  as  upon  the  crowds  of 
Florence; — can  the  English  student,  it  may  well  be  asked,  have 
passed  through  all  this  uninfluenced  ?  If  he  visited  Florence  at 
all  he  must  have  heard  the  story  of  Savonarola's  interview  with 
the  dying  Lorenzo;  he  must  have  heard  the  common  talk  of  the 
people,  how  Politian  and  Pico,  bosom  friends  of  Lorenzo,  had 
died  with  the  request  that  they  might  be  buried  in  the  habit  of 
the  order,  and  under  the  shadow  of  the  convent  of  San  Marco; 
above  all,  he  must  again  and  again  have  joined,  one  would  think, 
with  the  crowd  daily  pressing  to  hear  the  wonderful  preacher. 
Lorenzo  de'  Medici  had  died  before  Colet  set  foot  upon  Italian 

*  Savonarola's  first  sermon  in  the  Duomo  at  Florence  was  preached  in 
1491. 


1496]         Savonarola,  Pico,  and  Ficino  i  i 

soil:  probably  also  Pico  and  Politian.^  And  the  death  of  these 
men  had  added  to  the  grandeur  of  Savonarola's  position.  He 
was  still  preaching  those  wonderful  sermons,  all  of  them  in 
exposition  of  Scripture,  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  and 
exerting  that  influence  upon  his  hearers  to  which  so  many  great 
minds  had  yielded. 

The  man  who  had  religion— the  one  requisite  for  teaching  it 
—had  arisen.  And  at  the  touch  of  his  torch  other  hearts  had 
caught  fire.  The  influence  of  Savonarola  had  made  itself  felt 
even  within  the  circle  of  the  Platonic  Academy.  Pico  had 
become  a  devoted  student  of  the  Scriptures  and  had  died  an 
earnest  Christian.  Ficino  himself,  without  ceasing  to  be  a  Neo- 
Platonic  philosopher,  had  also,  it  would  seem,  been  profoundly 
influenced  for  a  time  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  great  reformer.^ 

^  Lorenzo  de'  Medici  died  in  1492;  Pico  and  Politian  in  1494.  Colet  left 
England  early  in  1494  probably,  but  as  he  visited  France  on  his  way  to 
Italy,  the  exact  time  of  his  reaching  Italy  cannot  be  determined. 

^  The  influence  of  Savonarola  on  the  religious  history  of  Pico  was  very 
remarkable. 

In  a  sermon  preached  after  Pico's  death,  Savonarola  said  of  Pico,  "  He 
was  wont  to  be  conversant  with  me,  and  to  break  with  me  the  secrets  of 
his  heart,  in  which  I  perceived  that  he  was  by  privy  inspiration  called  of 
God  unto  religion:  "  i.e.  to  become  a  monk.  And  he  goes  on  to  say  that, 
for  two  years,  he  had  threatened  him  with  Divine  judgment  "  if  he  fore- 
sloathed  that  purpose  which  om*  Lord  had  put  in  his  mind." — More's 
English  Works,  p.  9. 

Pico  died  in  November  1494.  The  intimacy  of  which  Savonarola 
speaks  dated  back  therefore  to  1492  or  earlier. 

According  to  the  statement  of  his  nephew,  J.  F,  Pico,  the  change  in 
Pico's  life  was  the  result  of  the  disappointment  and  the  troubles  conse- 
quent upon  his  "  vainglorious  disputations "  at  Rome  in  i486  (when 
Pico  was  twenty-three).  By  this  he  was  "  wakened,"  so  that  he  "  drew 
back  his  mind  flowing  in  riot,  and  turned  it  to  Christ!  "  Pico  waited  a 
whole  year  in  Rome  after  giving  his  challenge,  and  the  disappointment 
and  troubles  were  not  of  short  duration.  They  may  be  said  to  have 
commenced  perhaps  after  the  year  of  waiting,  i.e.  in  1487,  when  he  left 
Rome.  He  was  present  at  the  disputations  at  Reggio  in  1487,  and  this 
does  not  look  as  though  as  yet  he  had  altogether  lost  his  love  of  fame  and 
distinction.  There  he  met  Savonarola;  and  there  that  intimacy  com- 
menced which  resulted  in  Savonarola's  return,  at  the  suggestion  of  Pico,  to 
Florence.  In  1490,  as  the  result  of  his  first  studies  of  Holy  Scripture, 
according  to  J.  F.  Pico  (being  twenty-eight),  he  published  his  Heptapius, 
which  is  full  of  his  cabalistic  and  mystic  lore,  and  betokens  a  mind  still 
entangled  in  intellectual  speculations  rather  than  imbued  with  practical 
piety.  He  had,  however,  already  burnt  his  early  love  songs,  etc.;  and 
it  is  evident  the  change  had  for  some  time  been  going  on. 

About  the  time  when  Savonarola  commenced  preaching  in  Florence, 
in  1491  (three  years  before  his  death,  according  to  J.  F.  Pico),  Pico  dis- 
posed of  his  patrimony  and  dominions  to  his  nephew,  and  distributed  a 
large  part  of  the  produce  amongst  the  poor,  consulting  Savonarola  about 
its  disposal,  and  appointing  as  his  almoner  Girolamo  Benivieni,  a  devout 
and  avowed  believer  in  Savonarola's  prophetic  gifts.  This  was  doubtless 
the  time  when  Pico  was  wont  to  break  to  Savonarola  "the  secrets  of  his 


12  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1496 

And  in  the  light  of  Colet's  return  to  Oxford  from  Italy,  a  lover 
of  Dionysius  and  to  lecture  on  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  it  is  curious 
to  observe  that,  shortly  before  Colet's  visit  to  Italy,  Ficino  him- 
self had  pubHshed  translations  of  some  of  the  Dionysian  writings,^ 
and  that  apparently  about  the  time  of  Colet's  visit  he  was 
himself  lecturing  on  St.  Paul. 

If.  therefore  Colet  visited  Florence,  it  may  well  be  believed 
%  that  he  came  into  direct  contact  with  Savonarola  and  Ficino. 

heart;  "  the  time  also  to  which  J.  F.  Pico  alludes  when  he  speaks  of  him 
as  "  talking  of  the  love  of  Christ;  "  and  adding,  "  the  substance  I  have 
left,  after  certain  books  of  mine  finished,  I  intend  to  give  out  to  poor  folk, 
and  fencing  myself  with  the  crucifix,  barefoot,  walking  about  the  world, 
in  every  town  and  castle,  I  purpose  to  preach  of  Christ." — Vide  infra, 
p.  93.  In  1492,  a  few  weeks  after  Lorenzo's  death,  he  wrote  three  beautiful 
letters  to  his  nephew  {vide  infra,  pp.  93-95) — letters  as  glowing  with 
earnest  Christian  piety  as  the  Heptaplus  was  overflowing  with  cabalistic 
subtleties.  His  religion  now,  at  all  events,  had  the  true  ring  about  it. 
It  belonged  to  his  heart,  not  his  head  only.  Then  follow  the  remaining 
two  years  of  his  life  when  Savonarola  exerted  his  influence  (but  without 
success)  to  induce  him  to  enter  a  religious  order.  On  Sept.  21,  1494,  he 
was  present  at  Savonarola's  famous  sermon,  in  which  he  predicted  the 
calamities  which  were  coming  upon  Italy  and  the  approach  of  the  French 
army,  listening  to  which  Pico  himself  said  that  he  "  was  filled  with  horror, 
and  that  his  hair  stood  on  end  "  (narrated  by  Savonarola  in  his  Com- 
pendium Revelationum) ;  and  lastly  in  November,  as  Charles  entered 
Florence,  Pico  was  peacefully  dying.  He  was  buried  in  the  robes  of 
Savonarola's  order  and  within  the  precincts  of  Savonarola's  church  of 
St.  Mark.  In  the  light  of  Savonarola's  sermon,  and  the  facts  above 
stated,  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  whilst,  in  one  sense,  brought  about 
by  the  disappointment  of  his  worldly  ambitions,  the  change  of  life  in  Pico 
was  at  least,  in  measure,  the  result  of  his  contact  with  the  great  Florentine 
reformer. 

With  regard  to  the  history  of  Savonarola's  influence  on  Ficino's  re- 
ligious character,  the  facts  are  not  so  easily  traced.  In  early  years  he  is 
said  to  have  been  more  of  a  Pagan  than  a  Christian.  Before  writing  his 
De  Religione  Christiand,  he  seems  to  have  become  fully  persuaded  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity.  The  book  itself  shows  this.  And  there  is  a  letter 
of  his,  written  while  he  was  composing  it,  during  an  illness,  in  which  he 
says  that  the  words  of  Christ  gave  him  more  comfort  than  philosophy, 
and  his  vows  paid  to  the  Virgin  more  bodily  good  than  medicine.  He  also 
says  that  his  father,  a  doctor,  was  once  warned  in  a  dream,  while  sleeping 
under  an  oak  tree,  to  go  to  a  patient  who  was  praying  to  the  Virgin  for  aid. 

But  the  religion  of  a  man  resting  on  dreams,  and  visions,  and  vows 
made  to  the  Virgin,  was  not  necessarily  of  a  very  deep  and  practical 
character.  Superstition  and  philosophy  were  easily  united  without  the 
heart  taking  fire.  I  am  informed,  through  the  kindness  of  Count  P. 
Guicciardini,  of  Florence,  that  in  Ficino's  Apologia,  which  exists  in  the 
MSS.  Stroziani  of  Lihr.  Magliabecchiana,  class  viii.  cod.  315,  he  says  of 
himself  that  "  for  five  years  he  was  one  of  the  many  who  were  deceived 
by  the  Hypocrite  of  Ferrara,"  whom  he  calls  "  Antichrist."  The  truth 
therefore  seems  to  be  that  he  was  profoundly  influenced  by  Savonarola's 
enthusiasm,  but  only  for  a  time. 

^  Ficino's  editions  of  his  translations  of  the  Dionysian  treatises  on  the 
"  Divine  Names  "  and  the  "  Mystic  Theology  "  seem  to  have  been  pub- 
lished at  Florence  in  1492  and  1496. 


1496]  Thomas  More  1 3 

Whilst  even  if .Ue  did  not;  .yi$it  Florence  at  all  (and  there  appears 
to' be  no  direct  evidence  that  he  did)/  there  remains  abundant 
evidence,  which  will  turn  up  in  future  chapters,  that  Colet  had 
studied  the  writings  of  Pico,  of  Ficino,  and  of  the  authors  most 
often  quoted  in  their  pages.  He  thus  at. least  came  directly 
under  Florentine  influence,  at  a  time  when  the  fire  of  religious 
^eal,  kindled  into  a  flame  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  great  Floren- 
tine Reformer,  and  fed  by  the  scandals  of  Rome,  was  scattering 
its  sparks  abroad. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  whatever  amount  of  obscurity  may  rest 
upon  the  history  of  the  mental  struggles  through  which  Colet 
had  passed  before  that  result  was  attained,  certain  it  is  that  he 
had  returned  to  England  with  his  mind  fully  made  up,  and  with 
a  character  already  formed  and  bent  in  a  direction  from  which  it 
never  afterwards  swerved.  He  had  returned  to  England,  not  to 
enjoy  the  pleasures  of  fashionable  life  in  London,  not  to  pursue 
the  chances  of  Court  favour,  not  to  follow  his  father's  mercantile 
calling,  not  even  to  press  on  at  once  towards  the  completion  of 
his  clerical  course;  but,  unordained  as  he  was,  and  without 
doctor's  degree,  in  all  simplicity  to  begin  the  work  which  had 
now  become  the  settled  purpose  of  his  life,  by  returning  to 
Oxford  and  announcing  this  course  of  lectures  on  St.  Paul's 
Epistles. 

iV.  THOMAS  MORE,  ANOTHER  OXFORD  STUDENT  (1492-6) 

When  Colet,  catching  the  spirit  of  the  new  learning  from 
Grocyn  and  Linacre,  left  Oxford  for  his  visit  to  Paris  and  Italy, 
he  left  behind  him  at  the  university  a  boy  of  fifteen,  no  less 
devoted  than  himself  to  the  study  of  the  Greek  language  and 
philosophy. 

This  boy  was  Thomas  More.  He  was  the  son  of  a  successful 
lawyer,  living  in  Milk  Street,  Cheapside. 

Brought  up  in  the  very  centre  of  London  life,  he  had  early 

^  Mr.  Harford,  in  his  Life  of  Michael  Angela,  vol.  1.  p.  57,  mentions 
Colet,  among  others,  as  studying  at  Florence,  and  cites  "  Tiraboschi,  vi. 
pt.  2,  p.  382,  edit.  Roma,  4to.  1784."  But  I  cannot  find  any  mention  of 
Colet  in  Tiraboschi,  after  careful  search. 

In  opposition  to  the  likelihood  of  his  having  been  at  Florence  it  may 
be  asked,  why  Colet  never  alludes  to  it  in  his  letters  or  elsewhere?  In 
reply,  it  may  be  said  that  we  have  nothing  of  Colet's  own  \vriting  relating 
to  his  early  life.  All  we  know  of  it  is  derived  from  Erasmus,  and  the  only 
allusion  by  Colet  to  his  Italian  journey  which  Erasmus  has  preserved  is 
the  passing  remark  that  he  (Colet)  had  there  become  acquainted  with 
certain  monks  of  true  wisdom  and  piety.  Whether  Savonarola's  monks 
were  amongst  these  is  a  matter  of  mere  speculation. 


14  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1490 

entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  stirring  times  on  which  his  young 
life  was  cast.  He  was  but  five  years  old  when  in  April  1483 
the  news  of  Edward  IV.'s  death  was  told  through  London.  But 
he  was  old  enough  to  hear  an  eye-witness  tell  his  father,  that 
"  one  Potty er,  dwelling  in  Redcross  Street,  without  Cripplegate/' 
within  half  a  mile  of  his  father's  door,  "  on  the  very  night  of 
King  Edward's  death,  had  exclaimed,  *  By  my  troth,  man,  then 
will  my  master  the  Duke  of  Glo'ster  be  king.'  "  ^  And  followed 
as  this  was  by  Richard's  murder  of  the  young  Princes,  he  never 
forgot  the  incident.  After  some  years'  study  at  St.  Anthony's 
School  in  Threadneedle  Street,  his  father  placed  him  in  domestic 
service  (as  was  usual  in  those  times)  with  the  Archbishop  and 
Lord  Chancellor  Morton,^  a  man  than  whom  no  one  knew  the 
world  better  or  was  of  greater  influence  in  public  affairs — the 
faithful  friend  of  Edward  IV.,  the  feared  but  cautious  enemy  of 
Richard,  the  man  to  whose  wisdom  Henry  VII.  in  great  measure 
owed  his  crown.  Morton  was  the  Gamaliel  at  whose  feet  young 
More  was  brought  up,  drinking  in  his  wisdom,  storing  up  in 
memory  his  rich  historic  knowledge,  learning  the  world's  ways 
and  even  something  of  the  ways  of  kings,  till  a  naturally  sharp 
wit  became  unnaturally  sharpened,  and  Morton  recognised  in 
the  youth  the  promise  of  the  future  greatness  of  the  man.  He 
was  but  thirteen  or  fourteen  at  most,  yet  he  would  "  at  Christmas 
time  suddenly  sometimes  step  in  among  the  players,  making  up 
an  extempore  part  of  his  own;  "...  and  the  Lord  Chancellor 
"  would  often  say  unto  the  nobles  that  divers  times  dined  with 
him,  '  This  child  here  waiting  at  table,  whosoever  shall  live  to 
see  it,  will  prove  a  marvellous  man.'  "  It  was  Morton  who  had 
sent  him  to  Oxford  "  for  his  better  furtherance  in  learning." 

Colet  probably  had  known  More  from  childhood.  Their 
fathers  were  both  too  much  of  public  men  to  be  unknown  to  each 
other,  and  though  Colet  was  twelve  years  older  than  young  More 
when  they  most  likely  met  at  Oxford  in  1492-3,  their  common 
studies  under  Grocyn  and  Linacre  were  likely  to  bring  them 
into  contact.^    More's  ready  wit,  added  to  great  natural  power 

^  As  More  was  born  in  February  1478,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  accepting 
the  authenticity  of  this  incident,  which,  when  1480  was  assumed  as  the 
date  of  More's  birth,  seemed  quite  impossible,  as  More  would  only  have 
been  three  years  old  when  it  occurred,  and  could  not  have  remembered  the 
conversation. 

*  Roper,  Singer's  ed.  p.  3.     Morton  was  not  made  a  cardinal  till  1493. 

*  Colet  probably  left  Oxford  for  the  Continent  about  1494.  The  most 
probable  date  of  More's  stay  at  Oxford  was  1492  and  1493.  This  leaves 
1494  and  1495  for  his  studies  at  New  Inn,  previous  to  his  entry  at  Lincoln's 
Inn,  in  February  1496. 


1496]  Thomas  More  at  Oxford  15 

and  versatility  of  mind_,  were  such  as  to  enable  him  to  keep  pace 
with  others  much  older  than  himself,  and  to  devote  himself  with 
equal  zeal  to  the  new  learning. 

Whether  it  was  thus  at  Oxford  that  Colet  had  first  formed  his 
high  opinion  of  More's  character  and  powers,  we  know  not,  but 
certain  it  is  that  he  was  long  after  wont  to  speak  of  him  as 
the  one  genius  of  whom  England  could  boast.  Moreover,  along 
with  great  intellectual  gifts  was  combined  in  the  young  student 
a  gentle  and  loving  disposition,  which  threw  itself  into  the  bosom 
of  a  friend  with  so  guileless  and  pure  an  affection,  that  when 
men  came  under  the  power  of  its  unconscious  enchantment  they 
literally /eZ/  in  love  with  More.  If  Colet's  friendship  with  More 
dated  back  to  this  period,  he  must  have  found  in  his  young 
acquaintance  the  germs  of  a  character  somewhat  akin  to  his  own. 
Along  with  so  much  of  life  and  generous  loveliness,  there  was 
a  natural  independence  of  mind  which  formed  convictions  for 
itself,  and  a  strength  and  promptness  of  will  whereby  action  was 
made  as  a  matter  of  course  to  follow  conviction.  There  was,  in 
truth,  in  More's  character  a  singular  union  of  conservative  and 
radical  tendencies  of  heart  and  thought. 

But  the  intercourse  between  them  at  Oxford  did  not  last  long, 
for  Colet,  as  already  said,  went  off  on  his  travels,  leaving  More 
buried  in  his  Oxford  studies  under  Linacre's  tuition. 

It  was  the  father's  purpose  that  the  son  at  Oxford  should  be 
preparing  for  his  future  profession.  Jealous  lest  the  tempta- 
tions of  college  life  should  disqualify  him  for  the  severe  discipline 
involved  in  those  legal  studies  to  which  it  was  to  be  the  prepa- 
ratory step,  he  kept  him  in  leading-strings  as  far  as  he  possibly 
could,  cutting  down  his  pecuniary  allowance  to  the  smallest 
amount  which  would  enable  him  to  pay  his  way,  even  compelling 
him  to  refer  to  himself  before  purchasing  the  most  necessary 
articles  of  clothing  as  his  old  ones  wore  out.  He  judged  that  by 
these  means  he  should  keep  his  son  more  closely  to  his  books, 
and  prevent  his  being  allured  from  the  rigid  course  of  study 
which  in  his  utilitarian  view  was  best  adapted  to  fit  him  for 
the  bar. 

So  far  as  can  be  traced,  this  stern  discipline  did  not  fail  of  its 
end;  he  worked  on  at  Oxford,  without  getting  into  mischief, 
and  certainly  without  neglecting  his  books.  But  there  was 
another  snare  from  which  parental  anxiety  was  not  able  wholly 
to  preserve  him.  Before  he  had  been  two  years  at  Oxford,  the 
father  found  out  that  he  had  begun  to  show  symptoms  of  fond- 
ness for  the  study  of  the  Greek  language  and  literature,  and 


1 6  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1496 

might  even  be  guilty  of  preferring  the  philosophy  of  the  Greeks 
to  that  of  the  Schoolmen.  This  was  treading  on  dangerous 
ground,  and  it  seemed  to  the  anxious  parent  high  time  that  a 
stop  should  be  put  to  new-fangled  and  fascinating  studies,  the 
use  of  which  to  a  lawyer  he  could  not  discern.  So,  somewhat 
abruptly,  he  took  young  More  away  from  the  University,  and 
had  him  at  once  entered  as  a  student  at  New  Inn.  After  the 
usual  course  of  legal  studies  at  New  Inn,  he  was  admitted  in 
February  1496,  just  as  Colet  was  returning  from  Italy,  as  a 
student  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  for  a  few  more  years  of  hard  legal 
study,  preparatory  to  his  call  to  the  Bar. 

V.   COLET   FIRST   HEARS   OF  ERASMUS  (1496) 

One  other  circumstance  must  be  mentioned  in  this  chapter. 

Whilst  Colet  was  passing  through  Paris,  on  his  return  journey 
from  Italy,  he  became  acquainted  with  the  French  historian 
Gaguinus,  whose  work  De  Origine  et  Gestis  Francorum  had  been 
published  shortly  before.  Colet  was  in  the  habit  of  reading 
every  book  of  history  which  came  in  his  way,  and  no  doubt  this 
history  of  Gaguinus  was  no  exception  to  the  rule.  While  he  was 
at  Paris,  a  letter  was  shown  to  him  which  the  historian  had 
received  from  a  scholar  and  acquaintance  of  rising  celebrity  in 
Paris,  in  which  the  new  history  was  reviewed  and  praised. 
From  the  perusal  of  this  letter,  Colet  formed  a  high  estimate  of 
the  learning  and  wide  range  of  knowledge  of  its  accomplished 
writer.  But  scholars  were  plentiful  in  Paris,  and  he  was  not 
personally  introduced  to  this  one  in  particular.  He  was  not  then, 
like  Gaguinus,  one  of  the  lions  of  Paris,  though  he  was  destined 
to  become  one  of  the  lions  of  History.  Colet  after  reading 
his  letter  did  not  forget  his  name.  Nor  was  it  a  name  likely 
to  be  soon  forgotten  by  posterity. 

It  was,  "^  Erasmus.'^ 


1496]        Colet's  Lectures  on  "  Romans  "        17 


CHAPTER  II 

I.  colet's  lectures  on  ST.  Paul's  epistle  to  the  romans 
(1496-7?) 

To  appreciate  the  full  significance  of  Colet's  lectures,  it  is  need- 
ful to  bear  in  mind  what  was  the  current  opinion  of  the  scholastic 
divines  of  the  period  concerning  the  Scriptures,  and  what  the 
practical  mode  of  exposition  pursued  by  them  at  the  Universities. 

The  scholastic  divines,  holding  to  a  traditional  behef  in  the 
plenary  and  verbal  inspiration  of  the  whole  Bible,  and  remorse- 
lessly pursuing  this  belief  to  its  logical  results,  had  fallen  into  a 
method  of  exposition  almost  exclusively  textarian.  The  Bible, 
both  in  theory  and  in  practice,  had  almost  ceased  to  be  a  record 
of  real  events,  and  the  lives  and  teaching  of  living  men.  It 
had  become  an  arsenal  of  texts ;  and  these  texts  were  regarded 
as  detached  invincible  weapons  to  be  legitimately  seized  and 
wielded  in  theological  warfare,  for  any  purpose  to  which  their 
words  might  be  made  to  apply,  without  reference  to  their  original 
meaning  or  context. 

Thus,  to  take  a  practical  example,  when  St.  Jerome's  opinion 
was  quoted  incidentally  that  possibly  St.  Mark,  in  the  second 
chapter  of  his  Gospel,  might  by  a  slip  of  memory  have  written 
^'Abiathar"  in  mistake  for  "Abimelech,"  a  learned  divine,  a 
contemporary  of  Colet's  at  Oxford,  nettled  by  the  very  supposi- 
tion, declared  positively  that  "  that  could  not  be,  unless  the  Holy 
Spirit  himself  could  be  mistaken;  "  and  the  only  authority  he 
thought  it  needful  to  cite  in  proof  of  the  statement  was  a  text  in 
Ezekiel:  "  Whithersoever  the  Spirit  went,  thither  likewise  the 
wheels  were  lifted  up  to  follow  Him."  It  was  in  vain  that  the 
reply  was  suggested  that  "it  is  not  for  us  to  define  in  what 
manner  the  Spirit  might  use  His  instrument."  The  divine 
triumphantly  replied,  "  The  Spirit  himself  in  Ezekiel  has  defined 
it.    The  wheels  were  not  lifted  up,  except  to  follow  the  Spirit." 

This  Oxford  divine  did  not  display  any  peculiar  bigotry  or 
blindness.  He  did  but  follow  in  the  well-worn  ruts  of  his  scholas- 
tic predecessors.  It  had  been  solemnly  laid  down  by  Aquinas  in 
the  Summa,  that  "  inasmuch  as  God  was  the  author  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  and  all  things  are  at  one  time  present  to  His 
mind,  therefore,  under  their  single  text,  they  express  several 


1 8  The  Oxford  Reformers  [i4« 

meanings.  Their  literal  sense/'  he  continues,  "  is  manifol^/; 
their  spiritual  sense  threefold — viz.,  allegorical,  moral,  anago^i- 
cal."  And  we  have  the  evidence  of  another  well-known  Oxfc/rd 
student,  also  a  contemporary  with  Colet  at  the  University,  tjiat 
this  was  then  the  prevalent  view.  Speaking  of  the  dominant 
school  of  divines,  he  remarks:  "  They  divide  the  Scripture  itito 
four  senses,  the  literal,  tropological,  allegorical,  and  anagoglcal 
— the  literal  sense  has  become  nothing  at  all.  .  .  .  Twenty 
doctors  expound  one  text  twenty  ways,  and  with  an  antitheme 
of  half  an  inch  some  of  them  draw  a  thread  of  nine  days  long. 
.  .  .  They  not  only  say  that  the  literal  sense  profiteth  nothing, 
but  also  that  it  is  hurtful  and  noisesome  and  killeth  the  soul. 
And  this  they  prove  by  the  text  of  Paul,  2  Cor.  iii.,  '  The  letter 
killeth,  but  the  Spirit  giveth  life.'  Lo!  say  they,  the  literal 
sense  killeth,  the  spiritual  sense  giveth  life."  ^  And  the  same 
student,  in  recollection  of  his  intercourse  at  the  Universities 
with  divines  of  the  traditional  school  in  these  early  days,  bears 
witness  that  "  they  were  wont  to  look  on  no  more  Scripture 
than  they  found  in  their  Duns; "  ^  while  at  another  time  he  com- 
plains "  that  some  of  them  will  prove  a  point  of  the  Faith  as 
well  out  of  a  fable  of  Ovid  or  any  other  poet,  as  out  of  St.  John's 
^Gospel  or  Paul's  Epistles."^  Thus  had  the  scholastic  belief 
wn  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  sacred  text  led  men  blindfold 
/  into  a  condition  of  mind  in  which  they  practically  ignored  the 
^  Scriptures  altogether. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  at  Oxford  when  Colet  commenced 
his  lectures.  The  very  boldness  of  the  lecturer  and  the  novelty 
of  the  subject  were  enough  to  draw  an  audience  at  once.  Doctors 
and  abbots,  men  of  all  ranks  and  titles,  flocked  with  the  students 
into  the  lecture  hall,  led  by  curiosity  doubtless  at  first,  or  it 
may  be,  like  the  Pharisees  of  old,  bent  upon  finding  somewhat 
whereof  they  might  accuse  the  man  whom  they  wished  to  silence. 
But  since  they  came  again  and  again,  as  the  term  went  by, 
bringing  their  note-hooks  with  them,  it  soon  became  clear  that  they 
continued  to  come  with  some  better  purpose. 

*  Tyndale's  Obedience  0/  a  Christian  Man,  chap.  "  On  the  Four  Senses 
of  the  Scriptures." 

*  Preface  to  the  Five  Books  of  Moses. 

'Tyndale's  Obedience  of  a  Christian  Man,  chap.  "  On  the  Four  Senses 
of  Scripture."  That  Tyndale  was  at  Oxford  during  Colet's  stay  there 
(i.e.  before  1506),  see  the  evidence  given  by  his  biographers.  It  appears 
that  he  was  born  about  1484.  Fox  says  "  he  was  brought  up  from  a  child 
in  the  University  of  Oxford"  and  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
removed  to  Cambridge  before  1509.  See  Tyndale's  Doctrinal  Treatises, 
xiv.,  XV.,  and  authorities  there  cited. 


:496]       Colet*s  Lectures  on  "  Romans  ''  19 

Colet  already,  at  thirty,  possessed  the  rare  gift  of  saying  what 
he  had  to  say  in  a  few  telHng  words,  throwing  into  them  an 
earnestness  which  made  every  one  feel  that  they  came  from  his 
heart.  "  You  say  what  you  mean,  and  mean  what  you  say. 
Your  words  have  birth  in  your  heart,  not  on  your  lips.  They 
follow  your  thoughts,  instead  of  your  thoughts  being  shaped  by 
them.  You  have  the  happy  art  of  expressing  with  ease  what 
others  can  hardly  express  with  the  greatest  labour."  Such  was 
the  first  impression  made  by  Colet's  eloquence  upon  one  of  the 
greatest  scholars  of  the  day,  who  heard  him  deliver  some  of  these 
lectures  during  another  term. 

From  the  fragments  which  remain  of  what  seem  to  be  manu- 
script notes  of  these  lectures,  written  by  Colet  himself  at  the 
"  urgent  and  repeated  request,"  as  he  expressed  it, "  of  his  faithful 
auditors,"  and  now  preserved  in  the  Cambridge  Libraries,^ 
something  more  than  a  superficial  notion  may  be  gained  of  what 
these  lectures  were. 

They  were  in  almost  every  particular  in.  direct  contrast  with 
those  of  the  dominant  school.  They  were  not  iextarian.  They  did 
not  consist  of  a  series  of  wiredrawn  dissertations  upon  isolated 
texts.  They  were  no  "  thread  of  nine  days  long  drawn  from  an 
antitheme  of  half  an  inch."  Colet  began  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  went  through  with  it  to  the  end, 
in  a  course  of  lectures,  treating  it  as  a  whole,  and  not  as  an 
armoury  of  detached  texts  .^  Nor  were  they  on  the  model  of  the 
Catena  aurea,  formed  by  linking  together  the  recorded  comments 
of  the  great  Church  authorities.  There  is  hardly  a  quotation 
from  the  Fathers  or  Schoolmen  throughout  the  exposition  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans.^ 

^  A  copy  of  Colet's  exposition  of  "  Romans,"  with  corrections  apparently 
in  Colet's  handwriting,  is  in  the  Cambridge  University  Library;  MS. 
Gg,  4,  26.  A  fair  copy,  apparently  by  Peter  Meghen,  is  in  the  Library  of 
Corpus  Christi  College,  Cambridge,  MS.  No.  355. 

Amongst  the  "  Gale  MSS."  in  Trinity  Library,  Cambridge,  is  a  MS. 
(O.  4,  44)  said  to  be  Colet's,  containing  short  notes  or  abstracts  of  the 
Apostolic  Epistles.  Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Wright  I  had  a  copy 
taken  of  this  MS.,  but  on  close  comparison  of  passages  with  the  Annota- 
Hones  of  Erasmus,  I  was  obliged  to  conclude  that  the  writer  had  before 
him  an  edition  of  the  latter  not  earlier  than  that  of  1522.  This  MS. 
cannot,  therefore,  have  been  written  by  Colet.  Possibly  it  may  have  been 
written  by  Lupset,  Colet's  disciple.  The  copy  in  the  Trinity  Library  is  in 
a  later  hand. 

*  This  appears  to  have  been  the  character  also  of  the  Expositions  of 
Marsilio  Ficmo. 

8  The  names  of  Origen,  Jerome,  Chrysostom,  and  Augustine  are  men- 
tioned, but  incidentally,  and  without  any  quotations  of  any  length  being 
given  from  them. 


20  The  Oxford  Reformers  [149^ 

Instead  of  following  the  current  fashion  of  the  day,  and  dis- 
playing analytical  skill  in  dividing  the  many  senses  of  the  sacred 
text,  Colet,  it  is  clear,  had  biit  one  object  in  view,  and  that  object 
was  to  bring  out  the  direct  practical  meaning  which  the  apostle 
meant  to  convey  to  those  to  whom  his  epistles  were  addressed. 
To  him  they  were  the  earnest  words  of  a  living  man  addressed  to 
living  men,  and  suited  to  their  actual  needs.  He  loved  those 
words  because  he  had  learned  to  love  the  apostle — the  man — 
who  had  written  them,  and  had  caught  somewhat  of  his  spirit. 
.He  loved  to  trace  in  the  epistles  the  marks  of  St.  Paul's  own 
"^character.  He  would  at  one  time  point  out,  in  his  abruptly 
suspended  words,  that  "  vehemence  of  speaking  "  which  did  not 
give  him  time  to  perfect  his  sentences.  At  another  time  he 
would  stop  to  admire  the  rare  prudence  and  tact  with  which 
he  would  temper  his  speech  and  balance  his  words  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  different  classes  by  whom  his  epistle  would  be  read. 
And  again  he  would  compare  the  eager  expectations  expressed 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  of  so  soon  visiting  Rome  and  Spain, 
with  the  far  different  realities  of  the  apostle's  after  life;  recalling 
to  mind  the  circumstances  of  his  long  imprisonment  at  Caesarea, 
and  his  arrival  at  last  in  Rome,  four  years  after  writing  his 
epistle,  to  remain  a  prisoner  two  years  longer  in  the  Imperial 
city  before  he  could  carry  out  his  intention  of  visiting  Spain. 
He  loved  to  tell  how,  notwithstanding  these  cherished  plans  for 
the  future,  the  apostle,  being  a  man  of  great  courage,  was 
prepared,  "  by  his  faith,  and  love  of  Christ,"  to  bear  his  dis- 
appointment, and  to  reply  to  the  prophecy  of  Agabus,  that  he 
was  ready,  not  only  to  be  bound,  but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem  for 
the  name  of  his  Master,  if  need  be,  instead  of  fulfilling  the  plans 
he  had  laid  out  for  himself. 

And  whilst  investing  the  epistles  with  so  personal  an  interest, 
/by  thus  bringing  out  their  connection  with  St.  Paul's  character 
)  and  history,  Colet  sought  also  to  throw  a  sense  of  reality  and  life 
(   into  their  teaching,  by  showing  how  specially  adapted  they  were 
to  the  circumstances  of  those  to  whom  they  were  addressed. 
When,  for  instance,  he  was  expounding  the  thirteenth  chapter 
of  the  Epistle,  he  would  take  down  his  Suetonius  in  order  to 
ascertain  the  state  of  society  at  Rome  and  the  special  circum- 
stances which  made  it  needful  for  St.  Paul  so  strongly  to  urge 
Roman  Christians  "to  be  obedient  to  the  higher  powers,  and 
to  pay  tribute  also." 

It  is  very  evident,  too,  how  careful  he  was  not  to  give  a  one- 
sided view  of  the  apostle's  doctrine — what  pains  he  took  to 


1496]        Colet's  Lectures  on  "  Romans  **        2 1 

realise  his  actual  meaning,  not  merely  in  one  text  and  another, 
but  in  the  drift  of  the  whole  epistle;  now  ascertaining  the  mean- 
ing of  a  passage  by  its  place  in  the  apostle's  argument;  now 
comparing  the  expressions  used  by  St.  Paul  with  those  used  by. 
St.  John,  in  order  to  trace  the  practical  harmony  between  the) 
Johannine  and  Pauline  view  of  a  truth,  which,  if  regarded  on  one 
side  only,  might  be  easily  distorted  and  misunderstood.  In  ex- 
pounding the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  it  was  impossible  to  avoid 
allusion  to  the  great  question  afterwards  forced  into  so  unhappy 
a  prominence  by  the  Wittemberg  and  Geneva  Reformers,  as  it 
had  already  been  by  Wiclif  and  Huss — the  question  of  the  free- 
dom of  the  Will.  Upon  this  question  Colet  showed  an  evident 
anxiety  not  to  fall  into  one  extreme  whilst  avoiding  the  other. 
His  view  seems  to  have  been  that  the  soul  which  is  melted  and 
won  over  to  God  by  the  power  of  love  is  won  over  willingly,  and 
yet  through  no  merit  of  its  own.  Probably  his  views  upon  this 
point  would  be  described  as  "  mystic."  Certainly  they  were  not 
Augustinian.^    In  concluding  a  long  digression  upon  this  endless 

^  It  would  be  difficult  in  short  quotations  to  give  a  correct  impression 
of  the  doctrinal  standpoint  assumed  by  Colet  in  his  exposition  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans.  But  it  may  be  interesting  to  inquire,  whether 
any  connection  can  be  traced  between  his  views  and  those  of  Savonarola 
on  this  point. 

Now  Villari  states  that  a  "  fundamental  point  "  in  Savonarola's  doc- 
trine was  his  "  conception  of  love,  which  he  sometimes  says  is  the  same  as 
grace,"  and  that  it  was  through  this  conception  of  love  that  Savonarola, 
"to  a  certain  extent,"  explained  the  "  mystery  of  human  liberty  and 
Divine  omnipotence." — ViUari's  Savonarola  and  his  Times,  bk.  i.  c.  vii. 
p.  no. 

Whether  there  be  any  real  connection  between  Savonarola's  teaching 
and  the  following  passages  from  Colet's  exposition,  I  leave  the  reader  to 
judge. 

"  Wherefore  St.  Paul  concludes,  men  are  justified  by  faith,  and  trustmg 
in  God  alone  by  Jesus  Christ,  are  reconciled  to  God  and  restored  into  grace; 
so  that  with  God  they  stand,  and  remain  themselves  sons  of  God.  ...  If 
He  loved  us  when  alienated  from  Him,  how  much  more  will  He  love  us 
when  we  are  reconciled;  and  preserve  those  whom  He  loves.  Wherefore 
we  ought  to  be  firm  and  stable  in  our  hope  and  joy,  and,  nothing  doubting, 
trust  in  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  alone  men  are  reconciled  to 
God." — MS.  fol.  5.  After  speaking  of  that  grace  which  where  sin  had 
abounded  did  much  more  abound  unto  eternal  life,  Colet  proceeds: — 
"  But  here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  this  grace  is  nothing  else  than  the  love  of 
God  towards  men — towards  those,  i.e.,  whom  He  wills  to  love,  and,  in 
loving,  to  inspire  with  His  Holy  Spirit ;  which  itself  is  love  and  the  love 
of  God;  which  (as  the  Savioiu:  said,  according  to  St.  John's  Gospel)  blows 
where  it  lists.  But,  loved  and  inspired  by  God,  they  are  also  called;  so 
that  accepting  this  love,  they  may  love  in  return  their  loving  God,  and  long 
for  and  wait  for  the  same  love.  This  waiting  and  hope  springs  from  love. 
This  love  truly  is  ours  because  He  loves  us  ;  not  (as  St.  John  writes  in  his 
and  Epistle)  as  though  we  had  first  loved  God,  but  because  He  first  loved 
us,  even  when  we  were  worthy  of  no  love  at  all;  but  indeed  impious  and 
wicked,  destined  by  right  to  eternal  death.     But  some,  i.e.  those  whom 


2  2  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1496 

and  perplexing  question,  Colet  apologises  for  the  length  to  which 
he  had  wandered  from  St.  Paul,  and  excuses  himself  on  the 
ground  that  "  his  zeal  and  affection  towards  men  " — his  desire 
"  to  confirm  the  weak  and  wavering  " — ^had  got  the  better  of  his 
"  fear  of  wearying  the  reader." 

Connected  with  this  habit  of  trying  to  look  at  all  sides  of  a 
doctrine,  there  is,  I  think,  visible  throughout,  an  earnest  attempt 
to  regard  it  in  its  practical  connection  with  human  life  and 
conduct  rather  than  to  rest  in  its  logical  completeness. 

If  he  quotes  from  the  Neo-Platonic  philosophers  of  Florence 
(and  almost  the  only  quotation  of  any  length  contained  in  this 
manuscript  is  from  the  Theologia  Plaionica  of  Marsilio  Ficino), 
it  is  not  to  follow  them  into  the  mazes  of  Neo-Platonic  specula- 
tion, but  to  enforce  the  practical  point,  that  whilst,  here  upon 
earth,  the  knowledge  of  God  is  impossible  to  man,  the  love  of  God 

He  knew  and  chose,  He  also  loved,  and  in  loving  called  them,  and  in 
calling  them  justified  them,  and  in  justifying  them  glorified  them.  This 
gracious  love  and  charity  in  God  towards  men  is  in  itself  the  calling  and 
justification  and  glorification,  .  .  .  And  when  we  speak  of  men  as  drawn, 
called,  justified,  and  glorified  by  grace,  we  mean  nothing  else  than  that 
men  love  in  return  God  who  loves  them." — MS.  Gg.  4,  26,  fol.  6. 

Again:  "  Thus  you  see  that  things  are  brought  about  by  a  providing 
and  directing  God,  and  that  they  happen  as  He  wills  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
not  from  any  force  from  without  [tllaia) — since  nothing  is  more  remote 
from  force  than  the  Divine  action — but  by  the  natural  desire  and  will  of 
man,  the  Divine  will  and  providence  secretly  and  silently,  and,  as  it  were, 
naturally  accompanying  (cotnitante)  it,  and  going  along  with  it  so  wonder- 
fully, that  whatever  you  do  and  choose  was  known  by  God,  and  what 
God  knew  and  decreed  to  be,  of  necessity  comes  to  pass." — MS.  fol.  18. 

The  following  passage  is  from  Colet's  exposition  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians  (MS.  4,  26,  p.  80).  "  The  mind  of  man  consists  of  intellect 
and  will.  By  the  intellect  we  know:  by  the  will  we  have  power  to  act 
{possumiis).  From  the  knowledge  of  the  intellect  comes  faith:  from  the 
power  of  the  will  charity.  But  Christ,  the  power  of  God,  is  also  the 
wisdom  of  God.  Our  minds  are  illuminated  to  faith  by  Christ,  '  who 
illumines  every  man  coming  into  this  world,  and  He  gives  power  to  become 
the  sons  of  God  to  those  who  believe  in  His  name.'  By  Christ  also  our 
wills  are  kindled  in  charity  to  love  God  and  our  neighbour;  in  which  is 
the  fulfilment  of  the  law.  From  God  alone  therefore,  through  Christ,  we 
have  both  knowledge  and  power;  for  by  Him  we  are  in  Christ.  Men, 
however,  have  in  themselves  a  blind  intellect,  and  a  depraved  will,  and 
walk  in  darkness,  not  knowing  what  they  do.  .  .  .  Those  who  by  the  warm 
rays  of  his  divinity  are  so  drawn  that  they  keep  close  in  communion  with 
Him,  are  indeed  they  whom  Paul  speaks  of  as  called  and  elected  to  His 
glory,"  etc. 

In  further  proof  that  Colet's  views  (like  Savonarola's)  were  not  Augus- 
tinian  upon  the  question  of  the  "  freedom  of  the  will,"  may  be  cited  the 
following  words  of  Colet  (see  infra,  chap,  iv.) :  "  But  in  especial  is  it  neces- 
sary for  thee  to  know  that  God  of  his  great  grace  hath  made  thee  his 
image,  having  regard  to  thy  memory,  understanding,  and  free-will." 
Probably  both  Colet  and  Savonarola,  in  common  with  other  mystic  theo- 
logians, had  imbibed  their  views  directly  or  indirectlv  from  the  works 
of  the  Pseudo-Dionysius  and  the  Neo-Platonists. 


1496]        Colet's  Lectures  on  "  Romans  "        23 

is  not  so;  and  that  by  how  much  it  is  worse  to  hate  God  than  to 
be  ignorant  of  Him,  by  so  much  is  it  better  to  /oz/e  Him  than  to 
know  Him. 

And  never  does  he  speak  more  warmly  and  earnestly  than 
when  after  having  urged  with  St.  Paul,  that  "  rites  and  cere- 
monies neither  purify  the  spirit  nor  justify  the  man,"  and  having 
quoted  from  Aristeas  to  show  how,  on  Jewish  feast  days, 
seventy  priests  were  occupied  in  slaying  and  sacrificing  thousands 
of  cattle,  deluging  the  temple  with  blood,  thinking  it  well  pleasing 
to  God,  he  points  out  how  St.  Paul  covertly  condemned  these 
outward  sacrifices,  as  Isaiah  had  done  before  him,  by  insisting 
upon  that  living  sacrifice  of  men's  hearts  and  lives  which  they  were 
meant  to  typify.  He  urges  with  St.  Paul  that  God  is  pleased 
with  living  sacrifices  and  not  dead  ones,  and  does  not  ask  for 
sacrifices  in  cattle,  but  in  fnen.  His  will  is  that  their  beastly 
appetities  should  be  slain  and  consumed  by  the  fire  of  God's 
Spirit  .  .  .;  that  men  should  be  converted  from  a  proud  trust 
in  themselves  to  an  humble  faith  in  God,  and  from  self-love  to 
the  love  of  God.  To  bring  this  about,  Colet  thought  was  "  the 
chief  cause,  yes  the  sole  cause,"  of  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God 
upon  earth  in  the  flesh. 

Nor  was  he  afraid  to  apply  these  practical  lessons  to  the 
circumstances  of  his  own  times.  Thus,  in  speaking  of  the  collec- 
tions made  by  St.  Paul  in  relief  of  the  sufferers  from  the  famine 
in  Judea  (the  same  he  thought  as  that  predicted  by  Agabus),  he 
pointed  out  how  much  better  such  voluntary  collections  were 
than  "  money  extorted  by  bitter  exactions  under  the  name  of 
tithes  and  oblations."  And,  referring  to  the  advice  to  Timothy, 
"  to  avoid  avarice  and  to  follow  after  justice,  piety,  faith,  charity, 
patience,  and  mercy,"  he  at  once  added  that  "  priests  of  our 
time  "  might  well  be  admonished  "  to  set  such  an  example  as 
this  amongst  their  own  parishioner s,''  referring  to  the  example  of 
St.  Paul,  who  chose  to  "  get  his  living  by  labouring  with  his 
hands  at  the  trade  of  tentmaking,  so  as  to  avoid  even  suspicion 
of  avarice  or  scandal  to  the  Gospel." 

One  other  striking  characieristic  of  this  exposition  must  be 
mentioned — the  unaffected  modesty  which  breathes  through  it, 
which,  whilst  not  quoting  authority,  does  not  claim  to  be  an 
authority  itself,  which  does  not  profess  to  have  attained  full  know- 
ledge, but  preserves  throughout  the  childlike  spirit  of  inquiry. 

On  the  whole,  the  spirit  of  Colet's  lectures  was  in  keeping 
with  his  previous  history. 


24                The  Oxford  Reformers              [1496  \ 

The  passage  already  mentioned  as  quoted  from  Ficino^  the  \ 

facts  that,  in  a  marginal  note  on  the  manuscript,  added  appar-  , 

ently  in  Colet's  handwriting,  there  is  also  a  quotation  from  j 

Pico,  and  that  the  names  of  Plotinus  and  "  Joannes  Carmelitanus  "  i 

are  cited  in  the  course  of  the  exposition — all  this  is  evidence  of  ; 

the  influence  upon  Colet's  mind  of  the  writings  of  the  philo-  ; 

sophers  of  Florence,  confirming  the  inference  already  drawn  ! 

from  the  circumstances  of  his  visit  to  Italy.     But  in  its  com-  \ 

Iparatwe  freedom  from  references  to  authorities  of  any  kind,  \ 

(except  the  New  Testament,  Colet's  exposition  differs  as  much  \ 

from  the  writings  of  Ficino  and  Pico  as  from  those  of  the  | 

•  Scholastic  Divines.  j 

In  many  peculiar  phrases  and  modes  of  thought,  evident  i 

traces  also  occur  of  that  love  for  the  Dionysian  writings  which  I 

Colet  is  said  to  have  contracted  in  Italy,  and  which  he  shared  ; 

with  the  modern  Neo-Platonic  school.  > 

In  the  free  critical  method  of  interpretation  and  thorough  j 

acknowledgment  of  the  human  element  in  Scripture,  as  well  as  \ 

in  the  Anti-Augustinian  views  already  alluded  to,  there  is  evidence  ] 

equally  abundant  in  confirmation  of  the  statement,  that  he  i 

had  acquired  when  abroad  a  decided  preference  for  Origen  and  ; 

Jerome  over  Augustine.  \ 

Lastly  in  his  freedom  from  the  prevailing  vice  of  the  patristic  1 

interpreters — their  love  of  allegorising  Scripture — and  in  his  '. 

fearless  application  of  the  critical  methods  of  the  New  learning  \ 

to  the  Scriptures  themselves,  in  order  to  draw  out  their  literal  i 

!  sense,  there  is  striking  confirmation  of  the  further  statement  ' 

that,  whilst  in  Italy,  he  had  "  devoted  himself  wholly  "  to  their  ; 

study.     Colet's  object  obviously  had  been  to  study  St.  Paul's  \ 

Epistle  to  the  Romans  for  himself,  and  his  whole  exposition  j 

confirms  the  truth  of  his  own  declaration  in  its  last  sentence,  i 

that  **  he  had  tried  to  the  best  of  his  power,  with  the  aid  of  Divine  ' 

grace,  to  bring  out  St.  Paul's  true  meaning."  "  Whether  indeed  "  ; 

(he  adds  modestly)  "  I  have  done  this  I  hardly  can  tell,  but  the  * 

greatest  desire  to  do  so  I  have  had."  j 

II.  VISIT  FROM  A  PRIEST  DURING  THE  WINTER  VACATION  (1496-7  ?)  j 

Colet,  one  night  during  the  winter  vacation,  was  alone  in  his  ,i 

chambers.    A  priest  knocked  at  the  door.     He  was  soon  recog-  \ 

nised  by  Colet  as  a  diligent  attender  of  his  lectures.    They  ; 

drew  their  chairs  to  the  hearth,  and  talked  about  this  thing  and  \ 

that  over  the  winter  fire,  in  the  way  men  do  when  they  have  I 


I497J  A  Visit  from  a  Priest  25 

something  to  say,  and  yet  have  not  courage  to  come  at  once 
to  the  point.  At  length  the  priest  pulled  from  his  bosom  a 
little  book.  Colet,  amused  at  the  manner  of  his  guest,  smilingly 
quoted  the  words,  '*  Where  your  treasure  is,  there  will  your  heart 
be  also."  The  priest  explained  that  the  little  book  contained 
the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  carefully  transcribed  by  his  own  hand. 
It  was  indeed  a  treasure,  for  of  all  the  writings  that  had  ever 
been  written,  he  most  loved  and  admired  those  of  St.  Paul; 
and  he  added,  in  a  politely  flattering  tone,  that  it  was  Colet's 
lectures  during  the  recent  term  which  had  chiefly  excited  in 
him  this  affection  for  the  apostle.  Colet  turned  a  searching 
eye  upon  his  guest,  and  finding  that  he  was  truly  in  earnest, 
replied  with  warmth,  "  Then,  brother,  I  love  you  for  loving  St. 
Paul,  for  I,  too,  dearly  love  and  admire  him."  In  the  course 
of  conversation,  which  now  turned  upon  the  object  which  the 
priest  had  at  heart,  Colet  happened  to  remark  how  pregnant 
with  both  matter  and  thought  were  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  so 
that  almost  every  word  might  be  made  the  subject  of  a  discourse. 
This  was  just  what  Colet's  guest  wanted.  Comparing  Colet's 
lectures  with  those  of  the  scholastic  divines,  who,  as  we  have 
heard,  were  accustomed  "  out  of  an  antitheme  of  half  an  inch 
to  draw  a  thread  of  nine  days  long  "  upon  some  useless  topic, 
he  may  well  have  been  struck  with  the  richness  of  the  vein  of 
ore  which  Colet  had  been  working,  and  he  had  come  that  he 
might  gather  some  hints  as  to  his  method  of  study.  "  Then," 
said  he,  stirred  up  by  this  remark  of  Colet's,  "  I  ask  you  now, 
as  we  sit  here  at  our  ease,  to  extract  and  bring  to  light  from 
this  hidden  treasure,  which  you  say  is  so  rich,  some  of  these 
truths,  so  that  I  may  gain  from  this  our  talk  whilst  sitting 
together  something  to  store  up  in  the  memory,  and  at  the  same 
time  catch  some  hints  as  to  how,  following  your  example,  I  may 
seize  hold  of  the  main  points  in  the  epistles  when  I  read  St.  Paul 
by  myself." 

"  My  good  friend,"  replied  Colet,  *'  I  will  do  as  you  wish. 
Open  your  book,  and  we  will  see  how  many  and  what  golden 
truths  we  can  gather  from  the  first  chapter  only  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans." 

"  But,"  added  the  priest,  "  lest  my  memory  should  fail  me, 
I  should  like  to  write  them  down  as  you  say  them."  Colet 
assented,  and  thereupon  dictated  to  his  guest  a  string  of  the 
most  important  points  which  struck  him  as  he  read  through  the 
chapter.  They  were,  as  Colet  said,  only  like  detached  rings, 
carelessly  cut  from  the  golden  ore  of  St.  Paul,  as  they  sat  over 


26  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497  ; 

the  winter  fire,  but  they  would  serve  as  examples  of  what  might  ' 
be  gathered  from  a  single  chapter  of  the  apostle's  writings.  i 

The  priest  departed,  fully  satisfied  with  the  result  of  his  visit;  I 
and  from  the  evident  pleasure  with  which  Colet  told  this  story  j 
in  a  letter  to  Kidderminster,  Abbot  of  Winchcombe,  we  may  i 
learn  how  his  own  spirits  were  cheered  by  the  proof  it  gave  that  I 
he  had  not  laboured  altogether  in  vain.  ; 

The  letter  itself,  too,  apart  from  the  story  which  it  tells,  may  ; 
give  some  insight  into  his  feelings  during  these  months  of  solitar}'^  ; 
labour.  It  reads,  I  think,  like  the  letter  of  a  man  deeply  in  1 
earnest,  engaged  in  what  he  feels  to  be  a  great  work;  whose  sense  ! 
of  the  greatness  of  the  work  suggests  a  natural  and  noble  anxiety  j 
that  though  he  himself  should  not  live  to  finish  it,  it  may  yet  ; 
be  carried  forward  by  others ;  whose  ambition  it  is  to  die  working  : 
at  his  post,  leaving  behind  him,  at  least,  the  first  stones  laid  | 
of  a  building  which  others  greater  than  he  may  carry  on  to  ■ 
completion.  j 

After  telling  the  story  of  the  priest's  visit,  Colet  writes  thus:  j 

Colei  to  the  Abbot  of  Winchcombe  [ 

"  Thus,  Reverend  Father,  what  he  [the  priest]  wrote  down 
at  my  dictation  I  have  wished  to  detail  to  you,  so  that  you 
too,  so  ardent  in  your  love  of  all  sacred  wisdom,  may  see  what 
we,  sitting  over  the  winter  fire,  noted  offhand  in  our  St.  Paul.       1 

"  In  the  first  chapter  only  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  we  | 
found  all  the  following  truths.  [Here  follows  a  long  list.]  •  .  •  j 
These  we  extracted,  and  noted,  venerable  father,  as  I  said,  \ 
offhand,  in  this  one  chapter  only.  Nor  are  these  all  we  might  \ 
have  noted.  For  even  in  the  very  address  one  might  dis- 
cover that  Christ  was  promised  by  the  prophets,  that  Christ  is  ■ 
both  God  and  man,  that  Christ  sanctifies  men,  that  through  j 
Christ  there  is  a  resurrection,  both  of  the  soul  and  of  the  > 
body.  And  besides  these  there  are  numberless  others  con-  ; 
tained  in  this  chapter,  which  any  one  with  lynx  eyes  could  I 
easily  find  and  dig  out,  if  he  wished,  for  himself.  Paul,  of  all  \ 
others,  seems  to  me  to  be  a  fathomless  ocean  of  wisdom  and  piety,  i 
But  these  few,  thus  hastily  picked  out,  were  enough  for  our  \ 
good  priest,  who  wanted  some  thoughts  struck  off  roundly,  and 
fashioned  Hke  rings,  from  the  gold  of  St.  Paul.  These,  as  you  ; 
see,  I  have  written  out  for  you  with  my  own  hand,  most  worthy  ; 
father,  that  your  mind,  in  its  golden  goodness,  might  recognise. 


1497]        Colet  on  the  Mosaic  Creation  27 

as  from  a  specimen,  how  much   gold   lies   treasured   up   in 
St.  Paul. 

"  I  want  the  Warden  also  to  read  this  over  with  you,  for 
his  cultivated  taste  and  love  of  everything  good  is  such  that  I 
think  he  will  be  very  much  pleased  with  whatever  of  good  it 
may  contain. 

"  Farewell,  most  excellent  and  beloved  father. 

"  Yours,  John  Colet. 

"  When  you  have  read  what  is  contained  on  this  sheet  of 
paper,  let  me  have  it  again,  for  I  have  no  copy  of  it;  and, 
although  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  keeping  my  letters  and  cannot 
do  so,  as  I  send  them  off  just  as  I  write  them,  without  keeping 
a  copy;  yet  if  any  of  them  contain  anything  instructive  (aliquid 
doctnnce),  I  do  not  like  to  lose  them  entirely.  Not  that  they  are 
in  themselves  worth  preserving,  but  that,  left  behind  me,  they 
may  serve  as  little  memorials  of  me.  And  if  there  be  any  other 
reason  why  I  should  wish  to  preserve  my  letters  to  you,  this  is 
one,  and  a  chief  one — that  I  should  be  glad  for  them  to  remain 
as  permanent  witnesses  of  my  regard  for  you.    Again,  farewell ! " 

The  sole  survivor  of  a  family  of  twenty-two,  though  himself 
but  thirty,  Colet  might  well  keep  always  in  view  the  possibility 
of  an  early  death. 

III.   COLET  ON  THE  MOSAIC  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  CREATION  (1497  ?) 

It  would  seem  that  one  of  Colet' s  friends,  named  Radulphus, 
had  been  attempting  to  expound  "  the  dark  places  of  Scripture,'' 
and  that  in  doing  so  he  had  commenced  with  the  words  of 
Lamech  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Genesis,  as  though  this  were 
the  first  "  dark  place  "  to  be  found  in  the  Bible ! 

Out  of  this  circumstance  arose  a  correspondence  on  the  mean- 
ing of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  which  Colet  thought  required 
explanation  as  much  as  any  other  portion  of  Scripture.  jFoyir 
of  Colet's  letters  to  Radulphus,  containing  his  views  on  the 
Mosaic  account  of  the  creation,  have  fortunately  been  preserved, 
bound  up  with  a  copy  of  his  manuscript  exposition  on  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans,  in  the  Library  of  Corpus  Christi  College,  Cam- 
bridge. Colet  seems  to  have  thought  them  worth  preserving, 
as  he  did  the  letter  to  the  Abbot  of  Winchcombe;  and  as  any 
attempt  to  realise  the  position  and  feelings  of  Colet,  when  com- 
mencing his  lectures  at  Oxford  on  St.  Paul's  epistles,  would  have 
been  very  imperfect  without  the  story  of  the  priest's  visit,  so 


28  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

these  letters  to  Radulphus,  apart  from  their  intrinsic  interest, 
are  especially  valuable  as  giving  another  practical  illustration 
of  the  position  which  Colet  had  assumed  upon  the  question  of 
the  inspiration  and  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures;  as  showing, 
perhaps,  more  clearly  than  anything  else  could  have  done,  that 
the  principles  and  method  which  he  had  applied  to  St.  Paul's 
writings  were  not  hastily  adopted,  but  the  result  of  mature  con- 
viction— that  Colet  was  ready  to  apply  them  consistently  to  the 
Old  Testament  as  well  as  to  the  New,  to  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  as  well  as  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

Colet  begins  his  first  letter  by  telling  Radulphus  how  surprised 
he  was  that,  whilst  professing  to  expound  the  "  dark  places  of 
Scripture,"  he  should,  as  already  mentioned,  have  commenced 
with  the  words  of  Lamech,  leaving  the  first  three  chapters  of 
Genesis  untouched;  for  these  very  chapters,  so  lightly  passed 
over  by  Radulphus,  seemed  to  him,  he  said,  "  so  obscure  that 
they  might  almost  in  themselves  be  that '  abyss  '  to  which  Moses 
alluded  when  he  wrote  that  '  darkness  covered  the  face  of  the 
deep.'  " 

After  admitting  the  impossibility  of  coming  to  an  accurate 
understanding  of  the  meaning  of  what  Moses  wrote  without  a 
knowledge  of  Hebrew  and  access  to  Hebrew  commentaries, 
"  which  Origen,  Jerome,  and  all  really  diligent  searchers  of  the 
Scriptures  have  appreciated,"  he  goes  on  to  say  that,  notwith- 
standing their  extreme  obscurity,  and  the  possibility  that  Radul- 
phus might  be  able  to  throw  more  light  upon  them  than  he 
himself  could,  he  would  nevertheless  give  him  some  of  his  notions 
on  the  meaning  of  the  verses  from  "  In  the  beginning,"  etc.,  to  the 
end  of  the  "  first  day." 

He  then  began  his  explanation  by  saying  that,  though  not 
unmindful  of  the  manifold  senses  of  Scripture,  he  should  confine 
himself  to  rapidly  following  one ;  and  this  seems  to  be  the  only 
allusion  in  these  letters  to  the  prevalent  theor}^  of  the  "  manifold 
senses."  Taken  in  connection  with  the  full  expression  of  his 
views  upon  the  subject  on  a  future  occasion,  the  words  here 
made  use  of  probably  must  be  construed  rather  as  showing  that 
he  did  not  wish  at  that  moment  to  enter  into  the  question  with 
Radulphus,  than  as  intended  to  give  any  indication  of  what  his 
views  were  upon  it. 

Then  he  proceeds  to  state  his  conviction  that  the  first  few  verses 
of  Genesis  contain  a  sort  of  summary  of  the  whole  work  of  crea- 
tion. "  First  of  all,  I  conceive,"  Colet  wrote,  "  that  in  this 
passage  the  creation  of  the  universe  has  been  delivered  to  us  in 


1497]         Colet  on  the  Mosaic  Creation  29 

brief  (summatiin),  and  that  God  created  all  things  at  once  in  his 
eternity — in  that  eternity  which  transcends  all  time,  and  yet 
is  less  extended  than  a  point  of  time,  which  has  no  division  of 
time,  and  is  before  all  time." 

The  world  consists  primarily  of  matter  Sindform,  and  the  object 
of  Moses  was,  Colet  thought,  to  show  that  both  matter  and  form 
were  created  at  once  (simul).  And  therefore  Moses  began  with 
saying,  "  In  the  beginning  (i.e.  in  eternity)  God  created  heaven 
(i.e.  form)  and  the  earth"  (i.e.  matter).  Matter  was  never 
without  form,  but  that  he  might  point  out  the  order  of  things, 
Moses  added,  that ''  the  earth  (matter)  was  empty  and  void  (i.e. 
without  solid  and  substantial  being),  and  darkness  covered  the 
face  of  the  deep  "  (i.e.  the  matter  was  in  darkness,  and  without 
life  and  being).  Then  the  text  proceeds,  "  The  Spirit  of  God 
moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."  "  See  how  beautifully  " 
(wrote  Colet)  "  he  proceeds  in  order,  showing  at  one  view  the 
creation  and  union  of  form  with  matter,  using  the  word  '  water  ' 
to  express  the  unstable  and  fluid  condition  of  matter."  Then 
follow  the  words,  "  Let  there  be  light  "  (i.e.  according  to  Colet, 
things  assumed  form  and  definition). 

Having  thus  explained  the  opening  verses  of  Genesis  as  a 
statement  in  brief — a  summary — of  the  whole  work  of  creation, 
Colet  concluded  this  first  letter  by  saying,  "  What  follows  in 
Moses  is  a  repetition  and  further  expansion  of  what  he  has  said 
above — a  distinguishing  in  particular  of  what  before  was  com- 
prehended in  the  general.  If  you  think  otherwise,  pray  let  me 
have  your  views.     Farewell." 

Radulphus  having,  apparently  in  reply  to  this  letter,  requested 
Colet  to  proceed  to  explain  the  other  days,  Colet,  in  the  second 
letter,  takes  up  the  subject  where  he  left  it  in  the  first.  Having 
spoken  of  form  and  matter,  Moses  proceeds,  he  says,  in  proper 
order,  and  treats  of  things  in  particular,  "  placing  before  the  eye 
the  arrangement  of  the  world;  which  he  does  in  this  way,  in  my 
opinion  "  (wrote  Colet),  "  that  he  may  seem  to  have  regard  to 
the  understanding  of  the  vulgar  and  rude  multitude  whom  he 
taught."  Thus,  as  when  trying  to  understand  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  Colet  took  down  his  Suetonius  and  studied  the 
circumstances  of  the  Roman  Christians  to  whom  the  epistle  was 
written,  so,  in  trying  to  understand  the  book  of  Genesis,  Colet 
seems  to  have  regarded  it  as  written  expressly  for  the  benefit  of 
the  children  of  Israel,  and  to  have  called  to  mind  how  rude  and 
uncivilised  a  multitude  Moses  had  to  teach;  and  he  seems  to  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  object  of  Moses  was  not  to  give 


30  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

to  the  learned  of  future  generations  a  scientific  statement  of  the 
manner  and  order  of  the  creation  of  the  universe^  but  to  teach  a 
moral  lesson  to  the  people  whom  he  was  leading  out  of  the  bond- 
age and  idolatry  of  Egypt.  And  thus,  in  Colet's  view,  Moses, 
"  setting  aside  matters  purely  Divine  and  out  of  the  range  of 
the  common  apprehension,  proceeds  to  instruct  the  unlearned 
people  by  touching  rapidly  and  lightly  on  the  order  of  those 
things  with  which  their  eyes  were  very  palpably  conversant,  that 
he  might  teach  them  what  men  are,  and  for  what  purpose  they 
were  born,  in  order  that  he  might  be  able  with  less  difficulty  to 
lead  them  on  afterwards  to  a  more  civilised  life  and  to  the  worship 
of  God — which  was  his  main  object  in  writing.  And  that  this  was 
so  is  made  obvious  by  the  fact,  that  even  amongst  things  cognis- 
able to  the  senses,  Moses  passed  over  such  as  are  less  palpable, 
as  air  and  -fire,  fearing  to  speak  of  anything  but  what  can  easily 
be  seen,  as  land,  sea,  plants,  beasts,  men;  singling  out  from 
amongst  stars,  the  sun  and  moon,  and  of  fishes,  '  great  whales.' 
Thus  Moses  arranges  his  details  in  such  a  wa}^  as  to  give  the 
people  a  clearer  notion,  and  he  does  this  after  the  manner  of  a 
popular  poet,  in  order  that  he  may  the  more  adapt  himself  to  the 
spirit  of  simple  rusticity,  picturing  a  succession  of  things,  works, 
and  times,  of  such  a  kind  as  there  certainly  could  not  be  in  the 
work  of  so  great  a  Workman.''  This  recognition  by  Colet  of 
accojnmodation,  on  the  part  of  Moses,  to  the  limited  under- 
standing of  the  rude  people  whom  he  taught,  occurs  over  and 
over  again  in  these  letters;  so  often,  indeed,  that  in  one  letter 
he  apologises  to  Radulphus  for  the  repetition,  being  aware,  as 
he  says,  that  he  is  not  addressing  a  "muddle-headed  Hebrew  " 
(lutulentum  Hebraeum),  but  a  most  refined  philosopher !  Thus 
he  explains  the  difficulty  of  the  creation  of  the  firmament  on  the 
second  day  by  saying,  "  This  was  made  before,  but  that  simple 
and  uncivilised  multitude  had  to  be  taught  in  a  homely  and 
palpable  way." 

In  the  third  letter  Colet  proceeds  to  speak  of  the  third  day — 
the  separation  of  the  waters  from  the  dry  land  and  the  creation 
of  plants  and  herbs.  Here  again  everything  is  explained  on  the 
principle  of  accommodation.  "  Since  the  untutored  multitude, 
looking  round  them,  saw  nothing  but  the  sky  above,  and  land 
and  water  here  below,  and  then  the  things  which  spring  from 
land  and  water,  and  live  in  them,  so  Moses  suits  his  order  to 
their  powers  of  observation." 

The  firmament  or  sky  was  spoken  of  in  the  second  day;  now, 
therefore,  on  the  third  day,  Moses  mentions  land  and  water,  and 


1497]        Colet  on  the  Mosaic  Creation  3 1 

the  things  which  spring  from  them.  Plants  and  herbs  are  thus 
spoken  of  almost  as  though  they  were  a  part  of  land  and  water; 
and  here  Colet  gives  Radulphus  what  he  speaks  of  as  a  notion  of 
his  own,  hard,  perhaps,  for  his  friend  to  receive,  but  nevertheless 
his  own  conviction,  that  [instead  of  each  element  being  separ- 
ately created,  as  it  were,  out  of  nothing]  "  fire  springs  from  ether, 
air  from  fire,  water  from  air,  and  from  water,  lastly,  earth." 
And  Moses  probably  in  speaking  of  the  creation  of  plants,  etc.,  on 
the  third  day,  before  he  came  to  other  things,  intended  thereby 
to  show,  Colet  thought,  that  the  earth  is  spontaneously  produc- 
tive of  plants.  He  also  thought  that  Moses  mentioned  the 
creation  of  plants  before  the  heavenly  bodies,  in  order  to  show\ 
that  the  germinating  principle  is  in  the  earth  itself,  and  not> 
according  to  the  vulgar  idea,  in  the  sun  and  stars. 

At  the  end  of  the  third  letter,  Colet  naturally  stumbles  on  the 
difficulty  of  explaining  how,  if  all  things  were  created  at  once 
"  in  the  beginning,"  before  all  time,  Moses  could  say  at  the  end 
of  each  stage  of  his  description  of  the  creation,  "  and  the  evening 
and  the  morning  were  the  first,  second,  third,  etc.,  day:  "  and, 
after  fairly  losing  himself  in  an  attempt  to  solve  this  difficulty, 
he  ends  by  urging  Radulphus  to  leave  these  obscure  points  which 
are  practically  beyond  our  range,  and  to  bear  in  mind  through- 
out what  he  had  before  spoken  of,  viz.  that  whilst  Moses  wished 
to  speak  in  a  manner  not  unworthy  of  God,  he  wished,  at  the 
same  time,  in  matters  within  the  knowledge  of  the  common 
people,  to  satisfy  the  common  people,  and  to  keep  to  the  order 
of  things ;  above  all  things,  to  lead  the  people  on  to  the  religion 
and  worship  of  the  one  God.  "  The  chief  things  known  to  the 
common  people  were  sky,  land  and  water,  stars,  fishes,  beasts, 
and  so  he  deals  with  them.  He  arranged  them  in  six  days; 
partly  because  the  things  which  readily  occur  to  men's  minds 
are  six  in  number:  (i)  What  is  above  the  sky;  (2)  sky  itself;  (3) 
land,  surrounded  by  water,  and  productive  of  plants;  (4)  sun 
and  moon  in  the  sky;  (5)  fish  in  the  water;  (6)  beasts  inhabiting 
earth  and  air,  and  man,  the  inhabitant  of  the  whole  universe; — 
and  partly  and  chiefly,  that  he  might  lead  the  people  on  to  the 
imitation  of  God,  whom,  after  the  ma7tner  of  a  poet,  he  had  pictured 
as  working  for  six  days  and  resting  the  seventh,  so  that  they  also 
should  devote  ever}'-  seventh  day  to  rest  and  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  God  and  to  worship.  For,  beyond  all  doubt,"  Colet 
proceeds  to  say,  "  Moses  never  would  have  put  forward  a  number 
of  days  for  any  other  purpose  than  that,  by  this  most  useful  and 
most  wise  poetic  figment,  the  people  might  be  provoked  to 


32  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

imitation  by  an  example  set  before  them,  and  so  ending  their 
daily  labours  on  the  sixth  day,  spend  the  seventh  in  the  highest 
contemplation  of  God."  Colet  ends  his  third  letter  by  saying, 
"  Thus  you  have  my  notions  upon  the  work  of  the  third  day, 
but  what  to  make  of  it  I  know  not.  It  is  enough,  as  I  have  said, 
to  have  touched  upon  it  lightly.    Farewell." 

From  the  commencement  of  the  fourth  letter  it  would  seem 
that  Radulphus  had  been  from  home  four  days,  and  Colet 
jokingly  tells  him  that  he  had  spent  all  those  four  days  in  getting 
through  one  more  of  the  Mosaic  days.  "  And  indeed  whilst  you 
have  been  working  in  the  day  under  the  sun,  I,  during  this  time, 
have  been  wandering  about  in  the  night  and  the  darkness; 
neither  did  I  see  which  way  to  go,  nor  do  I  know  at  what  point 
I  have  arrived."  And  then  he  went  on  to  tell  Radulphus  that, 
while  in  this  perplexity  himself,  he  seemed  to  have  caught  Moses 
also  in  a  great  mistake,  for  in  concluding  each  day's  work  with 
the  words,  "  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the  second  day, 
the  third  day,"  and  so  on,  he  ought  not  to  have  said  day  but 
night.  What  intervenes  between  the  evening  and  the  morning 
must  of  necessity  be  night !  For  a  day  begins  in  the  morning  and 
ends  with  the  evening!  And  he  went  on  jokingly  to  say  that 
there  was  a  still  more  pressing  reason  why  Moses,  dividing  his 
subjects  into  days,  might  have  rather  called  them  nights;  viz. 
that  "  they  are  so  overwhelmed  with  darkness  that  nothing 
could  be  more  like  night  than  these  Mosaic  days!  "  Then  look- 
ing back  upon  his  attempts  to  explain  their  obscurity,  he  was 
obliged  to  confess  that  "  perhaps  while  he  had  been  trying  to 
throw  some  light  upon  them,  he  might,  after  all,  have  increased 
the  darkness;  "  and  he  entreated  Radulphus  "  to  pour  into  the 
darkness  some  of  his  light,  that  he  might  be  enabled  thereby  to 
see  Colet,  and  Colet  together  with  him  to  see  Moses." 

After  this  candid  confession  of  uncertainty,  Colet  tried  to 
explain  the  work  of  the  fourth  day,  and  the  words,  "  Let  there 
be  lights  in  the  firmament  of  heaven; "  but  the  only  way  he 
could  do  so  was  by  resorting  again  to  the  principle  of  accom- 
modation, which  he  did  in  these  words:  "  As  we  have  said,  all 
these  were  created  at  once.  For  it  is  unworthy  of  God,  and 
unbecoming  in  us,  to  think  of  any  one  thing  as  created  after  any 
other,  as  though  He  had  been  unable  to  create  them  all  at  once. 
Hence  in  Ecclesiasticus,  *  He  who  dwells  in  eternity  created  all 
things  at  once^  But  Moses,  after  the  manner  of  a  good  and  pious 
poet,  as  Origen  (against  Celsus)  calls  him,  was  willing  to  invent 
some  figure,  not  altogether  worthy  of  God,  if  only  it  might  but 


1497]        Colet  on  the  Mosaic  Creation  33 

be  profitable  and  useful  to  men;  which  race  of  men  is  so  dear  to 
God,  that  God  himself  emptied  himself  of  his  glory,  taking  the 
form  of  a  servant,  that  he  might  accommodate  himself  to  the 
poor  heart  of  man.  So  all  things  of  God,  when  given  to  man, 
must  needs  lose  somewhat  of  their  sublimity,  and  be  put  in  a 
form  more  palpable  and  more  within  the  grasp  of  man.  Accord- 
ingly, the  high  knowledge  of  Moses  about  God  and  Divine  things 
and  the  creation  of  the  world,  when  it  came  to  be  submitted  to 
the  vulgar  apprehension,  savoured  altogether  of  the  humble  and 
the  rustic,  so  that  he  had  to  speak,  not  according  to  his  own 
power  of  comprehension,  but  according  to  the  comprehension  of 
the  multitude.  Thus,  accommodating  himself  to  their  compre- 
hension, Moses  endeavoured,  by  this  most  honest  and  pious 
poetic  figure,  at  once  to  allure  them  and  draw  them  on  to  the 
worship  of  God." 

Here  the  manuscript  abruptly  ends  in  the  middle  of  a  reference 
to  the  works  of  Macrobius,  whose  sanction  Colet  was  apparently 
about  to  quote  in  support  of  his  attempt  to  explain  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  by  reference  to  the  principle  of  accommodation. 

The  question  may  be  asked:  "  Whence  came  this  doctrine  of  V 
accommodation  wmch  Colet  here  used  so  boldly?  "  It  was  at 
least  no  birth  of  the  nineteenth  century,  nor  of  the  fifteenth.  It 
belonged  to  a  period  a  thousand  years  earlier,  when  men  had 
(as  in  Colet's  days  and  in  ours)  to  reconcile  reason  and  faith — to 
find  a  firm  basis  oifact  for  Christianity,  instead  of  resting  upon 
mere  ecclesiastical  authority. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  that  the  two  authors  cited  by  Colet 
in  these  letters  were JQrigen  and  Macrobius.  Traces  of  Diony- 
sian  influence  are  also  apparent.^ 

^  The  following  passage  from  Mr.  Lupton's  translation  of  Colet's  abstract 
of  Dionysius's  De  celesti  Hierarchid  (pp.  12,13)  will  show  that  he  may  have 
derived  some  of  his  thoughts  from  that  source.  "  Thus  led  he  forth  those 
uninstructed  Hebrews,  like  boys,  to  school;  in  order  that  like  children, 
playing  with  dolls  and  toys,  they  might  represent  in  shadow  what  they 
were  one  day  to  do  in  reality  as  men:  herein  imitating  little  girls,  who  in 
early  age  play  with  cjolls,  the  images  of  sons,  being  destined  afterwards 
in  riper  years  to  bring  forth  real  sons:  .  .  .  '  When  I  was  a  child,'  says 
St.  Paul,  '  I  understood  as  a  child;  but  when  I  became  a  man,  I  put 
away  childish  things.'  From  childishness  and  images  and  imitations 
Christ  has  drawn  us,  who  has  shone  upon  our  darkness,  and  has  taught  us 
the  truth,  and  has  made  us  that  believe  to  be  men,  in  order  that  we,  '  with 
open  face  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  may  be  changed 
into  the  same  image  from  glory  to  glory  even  as  by  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord.'  "... 

"  In  these  foreshadowings  and  signs,  metaphors  are  borrowed  from  all 
quarters  by  Moses — a  theologian  and  observer  of  nature  of  the  deepest 

B 


34  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

It  has  already  been  pointed  out,  that  when,  after  a  thousand 
years'  interval  of  restless  slumber,  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry  was 
reawakened  by  the  revival  of  learning  in  Italy,  the  works  of  the 
pre-scholastic  fathers  and  philosophers  were  studied  afresh.  The 
works  of  Origen,  Macrobius,  and,  more  than  all,  of  Dionysius, 
were  constantly  studied  and  quoted  by  such  men  as  Ficino  and 
Pico.  And  thus  it  came  to  pass  that  the  doctrine  of  accom- 
modation, with  other  apparently  new-fangled  but  really  old 
doctrines,  floated,  as  it  were,  in  the  air  which  Colet  had  recently 
been  breathing  in  Italy. 

The  immediate  source  of  some  of  the  views  contained  in  the 
letters  to  Radulphus  was  evidently  Pico's  Heptaplus'^  on  the 
six  days'  creation;  a  work  published  in  beautiful  type  shortly 
before  Colet's  visit  to  Italy,  and  dedicated  to  Lorenzo  de'  Medici.^ 
Comparing  this  treatise  of  Pico's  with  Colet's  letters,  the  small 
verbal  coincidences  are  too  striking  to  leave  any  doubt  of  the 
connection. 

Nor  does  this  tracing  of  Colet's  thoughts  to  their  source  detract 
from  his  originality  so  much  as  might  at  first  sight  appear. 

Colet  found  many  different  germs  of  thought  in  Pico.  Falling 
,  into  congenial  soil,  this  one  attained  a  vigorous  growth  in  his 
^  mind,  which  it  never  attained  with  Pico.  Other  germs  which 
flourished  under  Pico  took  no  root  with  Colet.  The  result  was, 
that  the  spirit  of  the  letters  to  Radulphus  had  little  in  common 
with  that  of  the  Hepiaplus.  Cfilet  showed  his  originality  and 
independence  of  thought  by  seizing  one  rational  idea  contained 
in  Pico's  treatise,  and  leaving  the  rest.  He  caught  and  un- 
ravelled one  thread  of  common  sense  which  Pico  had  contrived 
to  interweave  with  a  web  of  learned  but  not  very  wise  speculation. 

insight — inasmuch  as  there  are  not  words  proper  to  express  the  Divine 
attributes.  For  nothing  is  fitted  to  denote  God  Himself,  who  is  not  only 
imutterable  but  even  inconceivable.  Wherefore  He  is  most  truly  ex- 
pressed by  negations;  since  you  may  state  what  He  is  not,  but  not  what 
He  is;  for  whatever  positive  statement  you  make  concerning  Him,  you 
err,  seeing  that  He  is  none  of  those  things  which  you  can  say.  Still  be- 
cause a  hidden  principle  of  the  Deity  resides  in  all  things,  on  account  of 
that  faint  resemblance,  the  sacred  writers  have  endeavoured  to  indicate 
Him  by  the  names  of  all  objects,  not  only  of  the  better  but  of  the  worse 
kind,  lest  the  duller  sort  of  people,  attracted  by  the  beauty  of  the  fairer 
objects,  should  think  God  to  be  that  very  thing  which  He  is  called." 

The  above  is  Colet's  amplification  of  the  passage  in  Dionysius  (chap.  ii.). 
The  latter  part  of  it  is  a  pretty  close  rendering  of  the  original. 

1  Heptaplus  Johannis  Pici  Mirandules  de  Septiformi  sex  dierum  Geneseos 
Eitarratione. 

*The  first  edition  is  without  date,  but  the  publisher's  letter  at  the 
commencement,  to  Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  shows  that  it  was  published  during 
the  lifetime  of  the  latter,  i.e.  before  1492 — probably  in  1490. 


1497]      The  Pseudo-Dionysian  Writings         35 


IV.   COLET  STUDIES   AFRESH  THE  PSEUDO-DIONYSIAN 
mjL  WRITINGS   (1497?) 

^^  The  next  glimpse  of  Colet  and  his  labours  at  Oxford  reveals 
him  immersed  in  the  study  of  the  Pseudo-Dionysian  writings: 
writing  from  memory  an  abstract  of  the  "  Celestial "  and  "  Eccle- 
siastical "  Hierarchies/  and  even  composing  short  treatises  of 
his  own,  based  throughout  upon  Dionysian  speculations.^ 

During  the  most  part  of  the  middle  ages  the  Pseudo-Dionysian 
writings  were  accepted  generally  as  the  genuine  productions  of 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite — i.e.  of  a  disciple  of  St.  Paul  himself. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  Colet,  falling  into  this  current 
view,  should  regard  the  writings  of  the  disciple  with  some  degree 
of  that  interest  and  reverence  with  which  he  regarded  those  of 
the  master.  For  a  time  it  is  evident  they  exercised  a  strong 
fascination  on  his  mind. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned,  that  the  influence  of  the 
Dionysian  writings  upon  the  Neo-Platonists  of  Florence  was 
natural,  seeing  that  they  wertf  in  fact  the  embodiment  of  the 
result  of  the  effervescence  produced  by  the  mixture  of  Neo- 
Platonic  speculations  with  the  Christianity  of  a  thousand  years 
earlier. 

But  whilst  it  was  their  Neo-Platonic  element  which  attracted  \ 
the  attention  of  Florentine  philosophers,  it  was  chiefly,  as  it/ 
seems  to  me,  their  Christian  element  which  fascinated  Colet.       ^ 

Nor  can  we  of  the  nineteenth  century  altogether  afford  to 
ignore  these  writings  as  forgeries.  There  must  have  been  in 
them  enough  of  intrinsic  power,  apart  from  their  supposed 
authorship,  to  account  for  the  enormous  influence  exerted  by 
them  for  centuries  over  the  highest;  minds  in  the  church,  in  spite 

*  The  letter  preceding  the  abstract  of  the  Celestial  Hierarchy,  in  the 
Cambridge  MS.  Gg.  4,  26,  is  evidently  a  copy  by  the  same  hand  as  the 
letter  to  the  Abbot  of  Winchcombe.  Possibly  the  Abbot  may  be  the 
person  to  whom  it  was  addressed. 

*  These  treatises  were: — i.  "  De  Compositione  Sancti  Corporis  Christi 
mistici." — Camb.  MS.  Gg.  4,  26. 

2.  "  On  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church,"  printed  with  a  very  valuable 
introduction  and  notes,  by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Lupton,  M.A.,  from  the  MS. 
in  the  St.  Paul's  School  Library.     (Bell  and  Daldy,  1867.) 

3.  A  short  essay  in  the  Camb.  MS.  Gg.  4,  26,  commencing  "  Deus 
immensum  bonum,"  etc. 

Mr.   Lupton  is  publishing  Colet's  abstracts  of  the  "  Celestial "   and 
"  Ecclesiastical "  Hierarchy  of  Dionysius,  from  the  MSS.  at  St.  Paul's 
'     School;    and  it  will  be  seen  how  much  use  I  have  made  in  this  chapter 
of  his  admirable  translation. 


36  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

of  the  wildness  of  speculation  in  which  they  seemed  to  revel; 
just  as  there  was  enough  of  intrinsic  power  in  St.  Augustine  to 
account  for  his  mighty  influence,  in  spite  of  his  narrow  views 
upon  some  points.  It  is  quite  possible  that,  as  the  very  dog- 
matism of  St.  Augustine  may  have  increased  his  influence  in  a 
dogmatic  age,  so,  inasmuch  as  the  dogmatic  theology  of  the 
Schoolmen  aimed  at  a  pan-theological  settlement  of  every 
possible  question,  their  very  wildness  of  speculation  may  have 
aided  the  influence  of  the  Dionysian  writings.  This  may  partly 
/account  for  the  remarkable  extent  to  which  the  works  of  St. 
(  Augustine  and  Dionysius  furnished,  as  it  were,  the  weft  and 
^  woof  out  of  which  Aquinas  wove  his  scholastic  web.^  But 
nothing  but  some  intrinsic  power  in  these  works  themselves, 
apart  from  their  dogmatism  and  speculation,  could  account  for 
their  double  position  as  forming  the  basis,  not  only  of  the 
Scholastic  Theology  itself,  but  also  of  so  many  reactions  against 
the  results  of  its  supremacy.  These  reactions  were  not  always 
Augustinian.  Some  of  them  were  mystic,  and  the  supposed 
Dionysius  was,  so  to  speak,  the  prophet  of  the  Mystics. 

One  main  secret  of  the  intrinsic  power  of  the  Dionysian 
writings,  especially  to  such  men  as  Colet,  lay,  undoubtedly,  in 
X  the  severe  rebuke  they  gave  to  the  ecclesiastical  scandals  of  the 
times.  The  state  of  the  church  under  Alexander  VI.  was  such 
that  earnest  men  in  Italy  had  practically  either  ceased  to  believe 
in  it,  and  in  Christianity,  as  of  divine  institution;  or  were  seek- 
ing a  solution  of  their  difficulties  through  those  Neo-Platonic 
speculations,  out  of  which  these  Pseudo-Dionysian  writings  had 
themselves  sprung. 

Colet  doubtless,  when  he  came  to  Italy,  had  the  same  diffi- 
culties to  fight.  Could  this  ecclesiastical  system,  so  degraded, 
so  vicious,  so  hollow  and  pernicious,  be  of  God  ?  He  could  not, 
and  probably  there  was  not  any  one  in  Europe  at  that  moment 
y  who  could,  from  his  standing-point,  wholly  reject  it,  without 
rejecting  Christianity  along  with  it.  The  Dionysian  writings 
)#presented  a  way  of  escape  from  this  terrible  alternative.  If 
they  were  genuine  (and  Colet  beHeved  them  to  be  so),  then  the 
hierarchical  system  and  its  sacraments,  however  perverted,  were 
yet  of  apostolic  origin.    These  writings  apparently  described, 

*  Baltbasar  Corderius,  in  his  prefatory  observations  to  his  edition  of 
the  works  of  St.  Dionysius  (Paris,  1644),  speaks  of  Dionysius  as  being 
the  originator  of  the  Scholastic  Theology,  and  proves  it  by  giving  four 
folio  pages  of  references  to  passages  in  the  Sutntna  of  Aquinas,  where 
the  authority  of  Dionysius  is  quoted. 


1497]      The  Pseudo-Dionysian  Writings        37  | 

in  the  words  of  a  disciple  of  St.  Paul,  their  apostolic  institution  ■ 

and  their  original  intention  and  meaning.     But  the  notion  ! 

gathered  by  Colet  from  Dionysius  of  the  apostolic  intention  pre-  | 

sented  an  ideal  so  utterly  pure  and  holy,  as  compared  with  the  ■ 

hoUowness  and  wickedness  of  ecclesiastical  practice,  as  he  saw  it  j 

in  Italy,  that  he  must  indeed  have  had  a  heart  of  stone  had  he  ■ 

not  been  moved  by  it.  \ 

The  following  passage  will  show,  in  Colet's  own  words,  how,  j 

following  the  lead  of  such  men  as  Pico  and  Ficino  (with  whose  ! 

writings,  we  have  seen,  he  was  acquainted),  he  was  led  to  regard  i 

the  Jewish  traditions  of  the  Cabala  as  genuine  Mosaic  traditions,  j 

committed  to  writing  by  Ezra;  and,  in  like  manner,  to  accept  . 

the  Pseudo-Dionysian  traditions  as  genuine  apostolic  traditions,  ! 

committed  to  writing  by  a  disciple  of  St.  Paul;  and,  further,  it  ; 

will  place  in  a  clear  light  the  connection  between  his  faith  in  I  \ 

Dionysius,  his  grief  over  the  scandals  of  the  church,  and  his  zear  I 

for  reform.  ! 

"  I  know  not  by  what  rashness  of  bishops,  in  later  ages,  the 

ancient  custom  fell  into  disuse — a  custom  which,  owing  to  its  ! 
apostolic  institution,  had  the  highest  authority.  .  .  .  And  had 

not  St.  Dionysius  (who  seems  to  me  to  be  such  in  our  church  ' 

as  was  Ezra  in  the  synagogue  of  Moses,  who  willed  that  the  ; 

mysteries  of  the  old  law  should  be  committed  to  writing,  lest  in  i 

the  confusion  of  affairs  and  of  men  the  record  of  so  much  wisdom  j 

should  perish) — had  not  Dionysius,  I  say,  in  like  manner,  as  ; 

though  divining  the  future  carelessness  of  mankind,  left  written  \ 

down  by  his  productive  pen  what  he  retained  in  memory  of  the  j 

institutions  of  the  apostle  in  arranging  and  regulating  the  church,  | 

we  should  have  had  no  record  of  this  ancient  custom.  .  .  .  How  i 

it  befell  (Colet  continued),  without  grievous  guilt,  that  these  j 

became  afterwards  wholly  changed,  I  know  not;  since  we  must  j 

believe  that  it  was  by  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that  they  j 

ordained  all  things  in  the  church.     For  the  words  of  our  Saviour  I 

in  St.  John  are  these :  *  Howbeit,  when  he,  the  Spirit  of  truth,  is  j 

come,  he  will  guide  you  into  all  truth :  for  he  shall  not  speak  of  j 

himself,  but  whatsoever  he  shall  hear,  that  shall  he  speak;  and  ! 

he  will  show  you  things  to  come.'     It  is  because  their  most  holy  • 

traditions  have  been  superseded  and  neglected,  and  men  have  ■ 

fallen  away  from  the  Spirit  of  God  to  their  own  inventions,  that,  ; 

beyond  doubt,  all  things  have  been  wretchedly  disturbed  and  i 

confounded ;  and,  as  I  said  before,  unless  God  shall  have  mercy  ! 
upon  us,  all  things  will  go  to  ruin."  ^ 

*  Mr.  Lupton's  translation,  pp.  135,  136.  j 


38 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 


/*  The  truth  was  that  the  Dionysian  writings,  though  not  of 
/  apostolic  origin  as  Colet  supposed,  presented,  nevertheless,  a 
i  picture  of  the  ecclesiastical  usages  of  an  age  a  thousand  years 
f  earlier  than  Colet's;  and  putting  the  earlier  and  the  later  usages 
N  in  contrast,  it  was  impossible  for  him  not  to  perceive  at  once  how 
(    much  more  pure  and  rational  in  its  spirit  and  tendencies  was  the 

ancient  Dionysian  system  than  the  more  modem  Papal  one. 
^    Both  were  sacerdotal  and  ritualistic;   but  the  sacerdotalism 
j   and  ritualism  of  Dionysius  were  radically  opposed  in  spirit  to 
i^  those  of  the  more  modem  system.    During  the  interval  between 
the  fifth  and  the  fifteenth  century,  sacerdotalism  had  had  time 
to  tum  almost  literally  upside-down,  and  ritualism  with  it.    It 
was  thus  quite  natural  that  Colet,  in  the  light  of  Dionysius, 
should  find  "  all  things  wretchedly  disturbed  and  confounded." 
The  Dionysian  theory,  however  speculative  and  vicious  as 
{  such,  at  least  according  to  Colet's  version  of  it,  did  not,  like  the 
I  modem  theory,  tend  towards  that  grossest  heathen  conception 
(  of  religion,  according  to  which  its  main  object  is  the  propitiation 
of  the  Deity,  rather  than  the  changing  of  the  heart  of  man. 

Its  gospel  was  not  that  Christ  offered  his  sacrifice  to  propitiate 
an  unreconciled  God — to  reconcile  God  to  man.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  told  of  a  God  who  is  "  beautiful  and  good,"  ^  who  had 
created  all  things  because  He  is  good,  because  He  is  good  recall- 
ing 2  all  things  to  Himself,  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himselljedeeming 
V  t^em^  not  from  His  own  wrath,  but  from  the  power  of  Evil. 
T?he  following  passage  may  be  taken  in  illustration  of  this: 
"  When,  directly  after  the  creation,  foolish  human  nature  was 
allured  by  the  seductive  enticements  of  the  enemy,  and  fell 
away  from  God  into  a  womanish  and  dying  condition,  and  was 
rolling  headlong  down  with  rapid  course  to  death  itself,  then  at 
length,  in  His  own  time,  our  good,  and  tender,  and  kind,  and 
gentle,  and  merciful  God,  giving  us  all  good  things  at  once  in 
place  of  all  that  was  bad,  willed  to  take  upon  Him  human  nature, 
and  to  enter  into  it,  and  rescue  it  from  the  power  of  the  adversary, 
overthrowing  and  destroying  his  empire.  For,  as  St.  Paul  writes 
to  the  Hebrews,  '  Forasmuch  as  the  children ' — or  servants — 
'  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,'  .  .  .  therefore  also  God  him- 

^  "  God,  who  is  one,  beautiful  and  good — Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost: 
the  Trinity  which  created  all  things — is  at  once  the  purification  of  things 
to  unity,  their  illumination  to  what  is  beautiful,  and  their  perfection  to 
what  is  good." — Mr.  Lupton's  translation,  pp.  15,  24. 

* "  God  created  all  things  because  He  is  good  (p.  16);  and  because  He 
is  good.  He  also  recalls  to  himself  all  things  according  to  their  capacity, 
that  He  may  bountifully  communicate  himself  to  them." 


1497]      The  Pseudo-Dionysian  Writings        39 

self  *  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him  the  form 
of  a  servant,'  and  ^  himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same  '  flesh 
and  blood — that  is,  human  nature — '  that  through  death  he 
might  destroy  him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil; 
and  deliver  them  who  through  fear  of  death  were  all  their  life- 
time subject  to  bondage:  '  that  he  might  destroy,  I  say,  that 
enemy,  not  by  force,  but  (as  Dionysius  says)  by  judgment  and 
righteousness;  which  he  calls  a  hidden  thing  and  a  mystery.^ 
For  it  was  a  marvellous  victory,  that  the  Devil,  though  victorious, 
in  the  very  fact  of  his  conquering,  should  be  conquered;  and 
that  Jesus  should  conquer  in  the  very  fact  of  his  being  van- 
quished on  the  cross;  so  that  in  reahty,  in  the  victory  on  each 
side,  the  matter  was  otherwise  than  it  seemed.  And  thus  when 
the  adversary  that  vanquished  man  was  himself  vanquished  by 
God,  man  was  restored,  without  giving  any  just  cause  of  com- 
plaint to  the  devil,  to  the  liberty  and  light  of  God.  There  was 
shown  to  him  the  path  to  heaven,  trodden  by  the  feet  of  Christ, 
whose  footsteps  we  must  follow  if  we  would  arrive  where  he  has 
gone.  A  suffering  Christ,  I  say  (most  marvellous !),  and  dying 
as  though  vanquished,  overcame.  ...  By  that  death  we  have 
been  rescued  from  the  dead,  and  are  the  servants  of  God."  ^ 

Quaint  and  curious  as  this  view  of  the  connection  between  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ  and  the  just  conquest  of  the  power  of  Evil  may 
seem  to  modem  ears,  it  reflects  faithfully  the  view  most  current 
amongst  the  early  Greek  Fathers;  and  it  has  at  least  this  merit, 
that  it  cannot  be  translated  into  the  language  of  the  heathen 
doctrine  of  propitiation. 

It  followed  that,  as  the  Dionysian  theory  left  no  place  for 
the  notion  that  the  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  offered  to  reconcile 
God  to  man  (seeing  that  it  upheld  the  doctrine  that  it  was  the 
sheep  that  had  gone  astray,  and  rejected  the  doctrine  that  the 
Si^epherd-  had  .ever  deserted  the  sheep),  so  it  left  no  place  for  a 
sacerdotal  order,  according  to  the  heathen  notion  of  a  priest- 
hood. Its  priests  were  not  priests  according  to  the  modem 
definition.  It  did  not — it  could  not — represent  its  priesthood 
as  appearing  as  heathen  priests  did  (and  as  some  modem  priests 
seem  to  think  they  do)^  on  behalf  of  man  before  God,  presenting 

^  All  after  this  is  Colet's  own  addition  to  what  is  said  in  Dionysius. 

^  Mr.  Lupton's  translation  of  Colet's  abstract  of  the  Eccl.  Hier.  p.  92. 

^  Wilberforce,  in  his  Doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  third  edition,  1850,  thus 
expressed  the  modern  sacerdotal  theory.  In  the  word  Priest,  in  primitive 
languages,  "  the  notion  of  the  setting  apart  those  who  should  act  on  man*s 
behalf  towards  God  is  everywhere  visible." — P.  229. 

"  Now  if  Christ  is  still  maintaining  a  real  intercession  (if  He  still  pleads 
that  sacrifice)  then  is  there  ample  place  for  that  sacerdotal  system,  by 


40  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

men's  offerings  to  him.  If  Christ's  office,  according  to  Diony- 
sius,  were  emphatically  to  plead  with  men,  to  bring  them  back, 
so  the  priest's  office  was  to  act  in  his  stead  in  the  same  work. 

The  following  passage  from  Colet's  abstract  presents  these 
two  dependent  facts  in  their  proper  connection : — "  Christ's  office 
on  earth  the  bishops  [elsewhere  he  speaks  of  priests  and  bishops 
as  identical]  everywhere  discharge,  and  in  Him  act  as  He  acted, 
and  with  like  zeal  strive  for  the  purification,  illumination,  and 
salvation  of  mankind  by  constant  preaching  of  the  truth  and 
diffusion  of  Gospel  light,  even  as  He  strove.  St.  Paul  says, 
'  God  was  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world  unto  himself,  not  im- 
puting their  trespasses  unto  them,  and  hath  committed  unto  us 
the  word  of  reconciliation.  Now  then  we  are  ambassadors  for 
Christ.'  Acting  in  Christ's  stead,  they  fan  the  fire  which  Christ 
came  to  send  upon  the  earth.  .  .  .  (Luke  xii.  49,  50.)  He  bap- 
tised, as  John  testifies,  '  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire.' 
F^jC  .^e  purifies,  illumines,  and  perfects.  That  fire  of  the  Spirit 
does  this  in  the  souls  of  men»  For  the  increasing  of  this  whole- 
some conflagration  amid  the  forest  of  men,  the  bishops  are  vicars 
and  ministers  of  Jesus,  and  they  seek  the  kindling  of  mankind  in 
God.  Now  this  fire  is,  I  doubt  not,  the  holy  love  of  God.^  .  .  . 
And  the  messenger  of  this  goodness,  compassion,  love,  and 
tenderness  of  God  was  his  lovely  son  Jesus  Christ,  who  .  .  . 
brought  down  love  to  men,  that  they  being  bom  anew  by  love, 
might  in  turn  love  their  heavenly  Father  along  with  Him."  ^ 

The  Dionysian  theory  of  sacerdotalism  being  thus,  in  its  spirit 
and  attitude,  an  exact  inversion  of  the  modem  one,  it  might 
naturally  be  expected  that  the  Dionysian  ritualism  would,  in  like 
manner,  involve  an  inversion  of  modern  ritualistic  notions. 

This  was  the  case.  Instead  of  idolising  the  sacraments  as  of 
mystic  power  and  virtue  in  themselves,  the  Dionysian  theory 

which  some  actual  thing  is  still  to  be  effected,  and  in  which  some  agents 
must  still  be  employed." — P.  381.  "  We  put  the  Priestly  office  imder  the 
law  in  a  line  with  the  ministerial  office  under  the  Gospel;  we  assert,  that 
if  the  title  of  Priest  could  be  given  fitly  to  the  first,  it  belongs  also  to  the 
second." — P.  383.  "  Any  persons  who  discharge  an  office  which  has 
reference  to  God,  and  who  present  to  Him  what  is  offered  by  men,  may 
be  called  Priests." — P.  384. 

'  See  the  same  views  expressed  by  Colet  in  his  exposition  of  "  Corin- 
thians."— Emmanuel  Col.  MS.  3,  3,  12,  leaf  g,  2. 

*  Colet's  abstract  of  the  Eccl.  Hier.  ch.  ii.  s.  2;  Mr.  Lupton's  trans- 
lation, pp.  61,  62.  Colet  writes  a  little  further  on: — "  The  office  of  the 
bishop  is,  like  Christ,  to  preach  constantly  and  diligently  the  truth  he  has 
received.  For  he  is,  as  it  were,  a  messenger  midway  between  God  and 
men,  to  announce  to  men  heavenly  things,  as  Christ  did." — Pp.  63,  64. 


1497]      The  Pseudo-Dionysian  Writings        41 

represented  them  as  divinely  instituted  ceremonies  intended  to 
draw  mankind  by  types  and  shadows  upward  to  God. 

It  did  not,  Uke  modem  ritualism,  tend  towards  the  view  that 
the  Eucharist  is  a  sacrifice  in  the  heathen  sense — a  continued 
offering  by  a  human  priesthood  of  the  sacrifice  of  Christ.^  On  the 
contrary,  it  represented  this  sacrament  as  commemorative  of 
the  death  of  Christ,  and  as  symbolic  of  the  professed  communion 
on  the  part  of  men  with  Christ,  and  with  one  another.^  It  did 
not  set  forth  the  sacrament  of  baptism  as  modern  ritualists  are 
so  fond  of  doing,  as  effecting  there  and  then  the  regeneration  of 
the  person  baptised.  But  it  regarded  baptism  as  a  symbolic 
profession  of  change  of  heart — as  the  ceremony  in  which  the 
believer  openly  takes  his  soldier's  oath  to  Christ,  and  promises 
amended  life.^  It  did  not  represent  the  sponsors  as  promising  or 
professing  in  the  child's  stead,  that  he  is  then  and  there  regene- 
rated, but  promising  that  they  themselves  will  do  all  they  can  to 
bring  him  up  as  a  child  of  God."*    It  did  not  admit  in  any  sacer- 

1  "  Through  this  bread  and  this  cup,  that  which  is  offered  as  a  true 
sacrifice  in  heaven  is  present  as  a  real  though  immaterial  agent  in  the 
church's  ministrations.  So  that  what  is  done  by  Christ's  ministers  below 
is  a  constituent  part  of  that  general  work  which  the  one  great  High  Priest 
performs  in  heaven :  through  the  intervention  of  his  heavenly  Head,  the 
earthly  sacrificer  truly  exhibits  to  the  Father  that  body  of  Christ  which 
is  the  one  only  sacrifice  for  sins;  each  visible  act  has  its  efficacy  through 
those  invisible  acts  of  which  it  is  the  earthly  expression,  and  things  done 
on  earth  are  one  with  those  done  in  heaven." — Wilberforce's  Doctrine  of 
the  Incarnation,  pp.  372,  373. 

*  Colet's  abstract  of  the  Eccl.  Hier.  ch.  iii. ;  Mr.  Lupton's  translation, 
pp.  78-94.  Whilst  not  disapproving  in  others  daily  attendance  "  ad  mensam 
Dominicam,"  Erasmus  tells  us  that  Colet  did  not  make  a  daily  habit  of  it 
himself. — Eras.  Op.  iii.  p.  459,  E. 

'  Eccl.  Hier.  ch,  ii.  Colet  speaks  in  his  abstract  (Mr.  Lupton's  transla- 
tion, p.  65)  of  the  Christian  being  "  brought  to  the  captain  of  the  army,  the 
bishop,"  that  by  the  soldier's  oath,  etc.,  "  he  may  own  himself  a  soldier  of 
Christ."     He  concludes  this  section  as  follows: — 

"  Such  was  the  custom  and  ceremony  of  baptism  and  the  washing  of 
regeneration  in  the  primitive  church,  instituted  by  the  holy  apostles, 
whereby  the  more  excellent  baptism  of  the  inner  man  is  signified.  And  this 
form  difters  very  greatly  from  the  one  we  make  use  of  in  this  age.  And 
herein  I  o\vn  that  I  marvel!  .  .  .  The  apostles  being  fully  taught  by 
Jesus  Christ,  knew  well  what  are  convenient  symbols  and  appropriate 
signs  for  the  mysteries.  So  that  one  may  suspect  either  rashness  or 
neglect  on  the  part  of  their  successors  in  what  has  been  added  to  or  taken 
from  their  ordinances." 

Then  follows  a  section  on  the  "  spiritual  contemplation  of  baptism," 
in  which  occurs  the  passage  beginning  "  Gracious  God!  "  etc. — Infra, 
p.  43.     Eccl.  Hier.  ch.  ii.  s.  3,  pp.  76,  77  of  Mr.  Lupton's  translation. 

*  "  Meanwhile  the  foster  father  who  has  undertaken  the  rearing  of  the 
child  in  Christ,  gives  a  pledge  and  sacred  promise,  on  behalf  of  the  infant, 
of  aU  things  that  true  Christianity  demands,  viz.  a  renouncing  of  all  sin, 
&c.  .  .  .  And  this  he  says,  not  in  the  child's  stead,  since  it  would  be  a  f6nd 
thing  for  another  to  speak  in  place  of  one  that  was  in  ignorance ;  but  when. 


42  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

dotal  order,  any  power  to  remit  or  retain  sin,  to  bind  or  to  loose. 
On  the  contrary,  it  regarded  the  priests  as  God's  ministers,  who 
ought  to  keep  in  communion  with  Him,  so  that  receiving  intima- 
tion by  the  Spirit  of  what  is  already  bound  or  loosed  in  heaven, 
they  may  disclose  it  on  earth.^ 

If  any  sacerdotal  theory  could  be  believable,  it  must  be 
confessed,  there  is  an  intrinsically  rational  and  Christian  tone 
about  the  Dionysian  theory  according  to  Colet's  rendering  of 
it,  strangely  lacking  in  that  of  modem  sacerdotalists. 

Forgetting  for  the  moment  the  speculative  adjuncts  to  the 
theory,  the  professed  knowledge  of  mysteries  unknown,  which 
Colet's  belief  in  Dionysius  obliged  him  to  accept,  but  which  did 
not  add  any  force  to  the  theory  itself,  it  will  be  seen  at  once  how 
powerful  a  rebuke  he  must  have  felt  it  to  be  to  the  ecclesiastical 
scandals  of  the  closing  years  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  assumed, 
as  the  essential  attribute  of  any  sacerdotal  order  laying  claim  to 
apostolic  institution,  the  attribute  of  a  really  pure  and  personal 
holiness.  No  merely  official  sanctity  imputed  outwardly  to  a 
consecrated  order,  by  virtue  of  its  outward  consecration,  could 
possibly  satisfy  its  requirements.  And  in  the  same  way  the 
sacraments  were  nothing  apart  from  the  personal  spiritual 
realities  which  they  were  meant  to  symbolise. 

Underneath,  therefore,  the  wild  excess  of  symbolism  and 
speculation  which  lay  on  the  surface,  and  formed,  as  it  were,  the 
froth  of  the  Dionysian  theology,  Colet  seems  to  have  found  this 
basis  of  eternal  truth,  that  religion  is  a  thing  of  the  heart,  not  of 

in  his  own  person,  he  speaks  of  renouncing,  he  professes  that  he  will  bring 
it  to  pass,  so  far  as  he  can,  that  the  little  infant,  as  soon  as  ever  it  is  capable 
of  instruction,  shall  in  reality  and  in  his  life  utterly  renounce,  &c.  .  .  . 

"  When  the  bishop,  I  say,  hears  him  saying,  '  I  renounce,'  which  means, 
as  Dionysius  explains  it, '  /  will  take  care  that  the  infant  renounce,'  &c.  .  .  . 
Thus  we  see  how  in  the  primitive  church,  by  the  ordinance  of  the  apostles, 
infants  were  not  admitted  unreservedly  to  the  sacred  rights,  but  on  con- 
dition only  that  some  one  would  be  surety  for  them,  that  when  they  came 
to  years  of  discretion  they  should  thenceforward  set  before  them  in  reahty 
the  pattern  of  Christ. 

"  Mark  thus  how  great  a  burden  he  takes  upon  himself  who  promises 
to  be  a  godfather,"  etc. — Mr.  Lupton's  translation  of  Colet's  abstract  of 
the  Eccl.  Hier.  ch.  viii,  pp.  158,  159. 

^  "  Men  execute  the  previous  decisions  of  God,  and  by  the  ministry  of 
men  that  is  at  length  disclosed  on  earth,"  &c. — Mr.  Lupton's  translation, 
p.  149.  "  It  must  be  heedfully  marked,  lest  bishops  should  be  presump- 
tuous, that  it  is  not  the  part  of  men  to  loose  the  bonds  of  sins :  nor  does 
the  power  pertain  to  them  of  loosing  or  binding  anything."  ..."  And  if 
they  do  not  proceed  according  to  revelation,  moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
.  .  .  they  abuse  the  power  given  to  them,  both  to  the  blaspheming  of 
God  and  the  destruction  of  the  Church." — Ibid.  150. 


1497]      Purity  of  the  Dionysian  Standard        43 

creed  nor  of  ceremonial  observances ;  that,  in  Colet's  own  rendering 
of  the  Dionysian  theory: — "  Knowledge  leads  not  to  eternal  life, 
but  love.  Whoso  loveth  God  is  known  of  Him.  Ignorant  love 
has  a  thousand  times  more  power  than  cold  wisdom."  ^ 

Colet's  abstracts  of  the  Dionysian  treatises  abound  with  pass- 
ages expressive  of  the  purity  and  holiness  of  heart  required  of 
the  Christian,  and  of  the  necessity  of  his  love  not  being  merely 
of  the  contemplative  kind,  but  an  active  love  working  for  Christ 
and  his  fellow-men.  The  following  extracts  may  be  taken  as 
illustrations  of  this. 

In  concluding  the  chapter  on  the  meaning  of  baptism  Colet 
exclaims : — *'  Gracious  God !  here  may  one  perceive  how  cleansed 
and  how  pure  he  that  professes  Christ  ought  to  be;  how  inwardly 
and  thoroughly  washed;  how  white,  how  shining,  how  utterly 
without  blemish  or  spot;  in  fine,  how  perfected  and  filled,  accord- 
ing to  his  measure,  with  Christ  himself.  .  .  .  May  Jesus  Christ 
himself  bring  it  to  pass,  that  we  who  profess  Christ  may  both  be, 
and  set  our  affections  on,  and  do  all  things  that  are  worthy  of  our 
profession."  ^ 

Speaking  of  the  anointing  after  baptism  of  the  soldier  of 
Christ,  Colet  says: — "You  must  strive  that  you  may  con- 
quer; you  must  conquer  that  you  may  be  crowned.  Fight 
in  Him  who  fights  in  you  and  prevails — even  Jesus  Christ,  who 
has  declared  war  against  death,  and  fights  in  all.  .  .  .  It  is  the 
rule  of  combat  that  we  should  imitate  our  leader.  .  .  .  We  have 
no  enemies  except  sin  (which  is  ever  against  us),  and  the  evil 
spirits  that  tempt  to  sin.  When  these  are  vanquished  in  our- 
selves, then  let  us,  armed  with  the  armour  of  God,  in  charity 
succour  others,  even  though  they  be  not  for  suffering  us,  even 
though  in  their  folly  they  see  not  their  bondage,  even  though 
they  would  put  their  deliverers  to  death.  So  to  love  man  as 
to  die  in  caring  for  his  salvation  is  most  blessed."  ^ 

These  passages  may  also  be  taken  as  evidence  how  fully  Colet 
had  caught  hold  of  the  spirit,  not  merely  of  the  froth,  of  the 

1  Mr.  Lupton's  translation  of  Colet's  abstract  of  the  Eccl.  Hier.  p.  83. 
This  was  a  strictly  Dionysian  thought  and  one  shared  also  by  Pico.  "  The 
little  affection  of  an  old  man  or  an  old  woman  to  Godward  (were  it  never 
so  small),  he  set  more  by  than  all  his  own  knowledge  as  well  of  natural 
things  as  godly."  ...  He  writeth  thiswise  [to  Politian],  "  Love  God 
(while  we  be  in  this  body),  we  rather  may  than  either  know  Him,  or  by 
speech  utter  Him," — Life  of  Picus,  E.  of  Mirandula,  Sir  Thomas  More's 
Works,  p.  7. 

To  the  same  purport  is  the  passage  from  Ficino,  quoted  by  Colet  in  his 
MS.  on  the  "  Romans." — Vide  supra,  p.  21. 

'  Mr.  Lupton's  translation,  pp.  76,  77.  » Ibid.  p.  73. 


44  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

Dionysian  doctrine;  how  he  had  approached  it  in  earnest  search 
after  practical  religion,  and  not  merely  in  the  love  of  speculation. 
They  will  also  do  much  to  explain  how,  drinking  deeply  at  this 
well  of  mystic  religion,  he  came  back  from  Italy,  not  a  mere  Neo 
Platonic  philosopher  or  "  humanist,"  but  a  practical  Reformer. 
In  Italy  he  had  become  acquainted  with  the  scandals  of  Alex- 
ander VI.  In  his  abstract  of  Dionysius,  in  speaking  of  "  the 
highest  Bishop  whom  we  call '  the  Pope,^  "  he  bursts  out  into  these 
indignant  sentences: — "  If  he  be  a  lawful  bishop,  he  of  himself 
does  nothing,  but  God  in  him.  But  if  he  do  attempt  anything 
of  himself,  he  is  then  a  breeder  of  poison.  And  if  he  also  bring  this 
to  the  birth,  and  carry  into  execution  his  own  will,  he  is  wickedly 
distiUing  poison  to  the  destruction  of  the  Church.  This  has  now 
indeed  been  done  for  many  years  past,  and  has  by  this  time  so 
increased  as  to  take  powerful  hold  on  all  members  of  the  Church; 
so  that,  unless  that  Mediator  who  alone  can  do  so,  who  created 
and  founded  the  church  out  of  nothing  for  Himself  (therefore 
does  St.  Paul  often  call  it  a  *  creature ') — unless,  I  say,  the 
Mediator  Jesus  lay  to  his  hand  with  all  speed,  our  most  disordered 
church  cannot  be  far  from  death.  .  .  .  Men  consult  not  God  on 
what  is  to  be  done,  by  constant  prayer,  but  take  counsel  with 
men,  whereby  they  shake  and  overthrow  everything.  All  (as 
we  must  own  with  grief,  and  as  I  write  with  both  grief  and  tears) 
seek  their  own,  not  the  things  which  are  Jesus  Christ's,  not 
heavenly  things  but  earthly,  what  will  bring  them  to  death,  not 
what  will  bring  them  to  life  eternal."  ^ 

The  following  passage  also  burns  with  Colet's  zeal  for  eccle- 
siastical reform: — "  Here  let  every  priest  observe,  by  that  sacra- 
ment of  washing  [before  celebration  of  the  eucharist],  how 
clean,  how  scoured,  how  fresh  he  ought  to  be,  who  would  handle 
the  heavenly  mysteries,  and  especially  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord's  body;  how  such  ought  to  be  so  washed  and  scoured  and 
polished  inwardly,  as  that  not  so  much  as  a  shadow  be  left  in  the 
mind  whereby  the  incoming  light  may  be  in  any  wise  obscured, 
and  that  not  a  trace  of  sin  may  remain  to  prevent  God  from 
walking  in  the  temple  of  our  mind.  Oh  priests !  Oh  priesthood ! 
Oh  the  detestable  boldness  of  wicked  men  in  this  our  generation ! 
Oh  the  abominable  impiety  of  those  miserable  priests,  of  whom 
this  age  of  ours  contains  a  great  multitude,  who  fear  not  to  rush 
from  the  bosom  of  some  foul  harlot  into  the  temple  of  the  Church, 
to  the  altar  of  Christ,  to  the  mysteries  of  God!  Abandoned 
creatures !  on  whom  the  vengeance  of  God  will  one  day  fall  the 
1  Mr.  Lupton's  translation,  pp.  150,  151. 


1497]      Colet^s  Abstract  of  the  Treatises        45 

heavier,  the  more  shamelessly  they  have  intruded  themselves 
on  the  Divine  office.  O  Jesu  Christ,  wash  for  us,  not  our  feet 
only,  but  our  hands  and  our  head!  "  ^ 

In  conclusion,  I  must  remind  the  reader  that  it  would  not  be 
fair  to  take  this  sketch  of  Colet's  abstract  of  the  Dionysian 
treatises  as  in  any  sense  an  abstract  of  the  treatises  themselves. 
What  I  have  tried  to  do  is,  to  show  in  what  Colet's  own  mind  was 
influenced  by  them.  The  passages  I  have  quoted  are  not  pass- 
ages from  Dionysius  but  from  Colet.  The  radical  conception 
is  most  often  due  to  Dionysius ;  the  passages  themselves  repre- 
sent the  effervescence  produced  by  the  Dionysian  conceptions  in 
Colet's  mind.  The  enthusiasm — the  fire  which  they  kindled 
there  they  would  not  have  kindled  in  every  one's  breast.  The 
fire  was  indeed  very  much  Colet's  own.  I  find  passages  which 
burn  in  Colet's  ahstrsict freeze  in  the  original.  Whilst,  therefore, 
acknowledging  the  influence  of  the  Dionysian  writings  upon 
Colet's  mind,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  this  influence  was 
exerted  upon  the  mind  of  a  man  not  only  already  acquainted 
with  the  writings  of  the  modern  Neo-Platonists  and  of  the  Greek 
Fathers,  but  also  already  devoted  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  bent  upon  drawing  out  for  himself  from  themselves  their 
direct  practical  meaning. 

The  truth  is,  that  just  as  in  the  Greek  Fathers,  with  all  their 
tendency  to  allegorise  Scripture,  there  was  combined  a  rational 
critical  element  which  formed  the  germ  of  a  sounder  and  more 
scientific  method  of  Scriptural  interpretation — a  germ  which 
fructified  whenever  it  fell  into  a  soil  suited  to  its  growth,  whether 
in  the  fifth  and  sixth  or  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries 
— so  in  the  Pseudo-Dionysian  philosophy,  with  all  its  unscientific 
tendency  to  revel  in  the  wildest  speculation,  there  were  com- 
bined germs  of  true  scientific  thought,  which  in  like  manner  were 
sure  to  fructify  in  such  a  mind  as  Colet's. 

Thus  in  the  Dionysian  doctrine  that  God  is  inscrutable — that 
all  human  knowledge  is  relative — that  man  cannot  rise  to  a  know- 
ledge of  the  absolute — that  therefore  no  conceptions  men  can 
form  of  God  can  be  accurate,  and  no  language  in  which  they 
speak  of  Him  can  be  more  than  clumsy  analogy — in  this  prin- 
ciple there  is  the  germ  of  a  rational  understanding  of  the  neces- 
sary conditions  of  Divine  revelation  involving  the  admission  of 

^  Mr.  Lupton's  translation,  pp.  90,  91.  .See  also  pp.  123-26,  where  Colet 
inveighs  warmly  against  the  nomination  by  secular  princes  of  worldly 
bishops. 


46  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

the  necessity  of  accommodation  and  the  human  element  in  Scrip- 
ture. Again,  in  the  doctrine  that  whilst,  in  this  sense,  the  know- 
ledge of  God  is  impossible  to  man,  the  love  of  God  is  not  so,  there 
lies  the  basis  of  truth  on  which  alone  science  can  be  reconciled 
with  religion,  and  religion  itself  become  a  power  of  life. 

Lastly,  in  the  very  attempt,  so  striking  throughout  Dionysius, 
to  find  out  in  the  sacerdotal  and  sacramental  system  a  symbolic 
meaning,  who  does  not  recognise  the  attempt  to  find  out  a  rational 
intention  in  its  institution,  which  should  make  it  believable  in  an 
age  of  reviving  philosophy  and  science  ? 

V.   COLET   LECTURES   ON   "l    CORINTHIANS"   (l497?) 

If  the  manuscript  exposition  of  the  ist  Epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians preserved  at  Cambridge,  apparently  in  Colet's  own  hand- 
writing, w4th  his  own  latest  corrections,^  may  be  taken  as 
evidence  of  what  his  lectures  on  this  epistle  were,  it  may  be  of 
some  value,  apart  from  its  own  intrinsic  interest,  in  enabling  us  to 
judge  how  far  he  adhered  to  the  same  leading  views  and  method 
of  exposition  which  he  had  before  adopted,  and  how  far,  in 
preceding  chapters,  we  have  been  able  to  judge  rightly  of  what 
they  were. 

I  think  it  will  be  found  that  this  exposition  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  all  which  had  pre- 
ceded it,  and  that  it  shows  evident  traces  of  those  phases  of 
thought  through  which  Colet  had  been  passing  since  his  arrival  at 
Oxford. 

Its  striking  characteristic,  like  that  on  the  "  Romans,"  would 
seem  to  be  the  pains  taken  to  regard  it  throughout  as  the  letter 
of  a  living  apostle  to  an  actual  church. 

On  the  one  hand,  it  teems  with  passages  which  show  the  depth 
of  Colet's  almost  personal  affection  for  St.  Paul,  and  the  clear- 
ness with  which  he  realised  the  special  characteristics  of 
St.  Paul's  character;  his  extreme  consideration  for  others,  his 
modesty,  his  tolerance,  his  wise  tact  and  prudence,  his  self- 
denial  for  others'  good. 

On  the  other  hand,  no  less  conspicuous  is  the  attempt  on  Colet's 
part  to  realise  the  condition  and  pecuhar  character  and  circum- 
stances of  the  Corinthians,  to  whom  the  apostle  was  writing,  as 
the  true  key  to  the  practical  meaning  of  the  epistle. 

^  Camb.  University  Library,  MS.  Gg.  4,  26.  There  is  a  beautiful  copy 
embodying  these  corrections  in  the  hand  of  Peter  Meghen,  in  the  Library 
of  Emmanuel  College,  Cambridge,  MS.  3,  3,  12. 


1497]  Colet  on  "  I  Corinthians  ''  47 

Thus  Colet,  in  treating  of  the  commencement  of  the  epistle — 
an  epistle  intended  to  correct  the  conduct  of  the  Corinthians  in 
some  practical  points  in  which  they  had  erred — stops  to  admire 
the  wisdom  of  St.  Paul's  method  in  speaking  first  of  that  part  of 
their  conduct  which  he  could  praise,  before  he  proceeded  to 
blame.  And  this  he  did,  Colet  thought,  "  that  by  this  gentle 
and  mild  beginning  he  might  draw  them  on  to  read  the  rest  of 
his  epistle,  and  lead  them  to  listen  niore  easily  to  what  he  had 
to  blame  in  their  conduct.  For  (Colet  continues)  had  he  at  once 
at  starting  been  rougher,  and  accused  them  more  severely,  he 
might  indeed  have  driven  away  from  himself  and  his  exhortations 
minds  as  yet  tender  and  inexperienced  in  religion,  especially 
those  of  that  Greek  nation,  so  arrogant  and  proud,  and  prone  to 
be  disdainful.  Prudently,  therefore,  and  cautiously  had  the 
matter  to  be  handled,  having  due  regard  to  persons,  places,  and 
seasons,  in  his  observance  of  which  Paul  was  surely  the  one 
most  considerate  of  all  men,  who  knew  so  well  how  to  accommo- 
date the  means  to  the  end,  that  while  he  sought  nothing  else  but 
the  glory  of  Jesus  Christ  upon  earth,  and  the  increase  of  faith  and 
charity,  this  man  with  divine  skill  neither  did  nor  omitted  any- 
thing ever  amongst  any  which  should  impede  or  retard  these 
objects." 

The  same  method  receives  a  further  illustration  from  the  way 
in  which  Colet  draws  a  picture  of  the  condition  of  the  Corinthian 
church,  evidently  feeling  while  he  did  so,  how  closely  in  some 
points  it  resembled  the  condition  of  the  church  in  his  own  day. 
He  surely  must  have  had  the  Schoolmen  in  his  mind,  as  he 
described  some  among  the  Corinthians,  "  derogating  from  the 
authority  of  the  Apostles,  and  especially  of  St.  Paul,  whose  name 
ought  to  have  had  the  greatest  weight  amongst  them,  setting  up 
institutions  in  the  church  according  to  their  own  fancy  and  in  their 
own  wisdom,  making  the  people  believe  that  they  knew  all  about 
everything  which  pertained  to  the  Christian  religion,  and  that 
they  could  easily  solve  and  give  an  opinion  upon  every  point  of 
doubt  that  might  arise.  So  that,  in  this  infant  church,  many 
things  had  come  to  be  allowed  which  were  abhorrent  from  the 
institutions  of  Paul,  wherefrom  had  arisen  divisions  and  factions, 
between  which  were  constant  contentions  and  altercations,  so  that 
all  things  were  going  wrong."  ^ 

Colet's  almost  personal  affection  for  St.  Paul  enabled  him  also 
to  realise  how,  being  the  "  first  parent  of  the  Corinthian  church," 
he  was  "  troubled  "  at  this  state  of  things,  not  so  much  at  their 
^  Abridged  quotation. 


48 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 


having  tried  to  undermine  his  own  authority,  as  at  the  danger 
they  were  in  of  making  shipwreck  of  their  faith,  after  all  his  pains 
in  piloting  their  vessel.  "  Therefore,  as  far  as  he  dared  and 
could  "  (writes  Colet),  "  he  upbraided  those  who  wished  to  seem 
wise,  and  who  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  Christian  republic 
more  according  to  their  own  fancies  than  according  to  the  will 
of  God.  Which,  however,  he  did  everywhere  most  modestly; 
the  most  pious  man  seeking  rather  the  reformation  of  the  evils 
than  the  blame  of  any."  And  therefore  it  was  (Colet  thought) 
that  St.  Paul  in  his  whole  epistle,  and  especially  in  the  first  part 
of  it,  strove  to  assert  that  men  of  themselves  can  know  and  do 
nothing,  to  eradicate  the  false  foundation  of  trust  in  themselves, 
and  to  lead  them  to  Christ,  who  alone  is  the  wisdom  of  God  and 
the  power  of  God. 

And  here  again,  after  following  St.  Paul's  statement,  that  the 
wisdom  of  man  being  foolishness,  God  had  chosen  the  foolish 
rather  than  the  wise  to  hear  him  and  to  preach  his  gospel,  Colet 
was  led  off  into  a  train  of  thought  which  harmonises  well  with 
what  has  been  stated  in  previous  chapters,  in  that  it  shows 
how  fully  he  had  accepted  the  Dionysian  writings  as  the  genuine 
WTitings  of  St.  Paul's  disciple,  and  how  closely  he  associated  in 
his  mind  the  name  of  the  disciple  with  that  of  the  master. 

For  he  exclaims,  "  What  if  sometimes  some  men,  endowed 
with  secular  wisdom  such  as  Paul  and  his  disciple,  Dionysius  the 
Areopagite,  and  a  few  others,  were  chosen  both  to  receive  the 
truths  of  his  wisdom,  and  to  teach  them  to  others,  these  indeed 
in  teaching  others  what  they  had  learned  from  God,  took  the 
greatest  pains  to  appear  to  know  nothing  according  to  this  world, 
thinking  it  unworthy  to  mix  up  human  reason  with  Divine 
revelations.  .  .  .  Hence  Paul,  in  wise  and  learned  Greece,  was 
not  afraid  to  seem  in  himself  a  fool  and  weak,  and  to  profess  that 
he  knew  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified." 

Then  follows  a  passage  in  which  Colet  states,  in  his  own  lan- 
guage, what  Paul  meant  when  he  preached  "  Christ  crucified;  " 
a  passage  very  similar  to  that  already  quoted  from  his  abstract 
of  Dionysius,  and  bearing  the  same  marks  of  the  modes  of  thought 
of  a  man  who,  as  is  affirmed  of  Colet,  was  more  inclined  to  follow 
Dionysius,  Origen,  and  Jerome,  than  St.  Augustine. 

Nor  did  Colet  in  this  exposition  show  himself  to  be  any  more 
inclined  to  follow  Augustine  upon  the  question  of  election  than 
he  showed  himself  in  his  exposition  of  "the  Romans."  He  is 
indeed  ready  enough  to  admit,  that  men  never  could  of  thein- 
selves  rise  out  of  the  darkness  of  worldly  wisdom  to  "  accept  the 


1497]  Colet  on  "  I  Corinthians  '*  49 

wonderful  miracle  of  Christ/' — "  such  is  the  miserable  and  lost 
condition  of  men;  "  and  yet  he  does  not  fall  into  the  pitfall  of 
Augustine's  doctrine^  that  men  were  chosen  wholly  without 
reference  to  their  own  characters.  "  It  would  seem,"  he  said, 
"  that  it  was  not  without  reason  that  God  chose,  out  of  the  crowd 
of  men  grovelling  in  the  darkness  of  worldly  wisdom,  those  who 
had  not  fallen  so  far  into  the  depths  of  this  darkness,  and  so 
could  more  easily  be  touched  by  the  divine  light.  ...  If  God 
himself  be  nobility,  wisdom,  and  power,  who  does  not  see  that 
Peter,  John,  and  James,  and  others  like  them,  even  before  the 
truth  of  God  had  shone  in  the  world,  surpassed  others  in  wisdom 
and  strength,  in  proportion  as  they  were  free  from  their  foolish- 
ness and  impotence,  so  that  no  wonder  if  God  chose  those  held 
foolish  and  impotent,  since  indeed  they  were  really  the  most 
noble  of  all  the  world,  most  separate,  and  standing  out  farthest 
from  the  vileness  of  the  world;  so  that  just  as  that  land  which 
rises  highest  is  touched  by  the  rays  of  the  rising  sun  most  easily 
and  most  quickly,  so  in  the  same  way  it  was  of  necessity  that, 
at  the  rising  of  that  light  which  lighteth  every  man  coming  into 
this  world,  it  should  first  light  up  those  who  rose  highest  amongst 
men,  and  stood  out  like  mountains  in  the  valleys  of  men." 

The  striking  characteristic  of  Colet's  letters  to  Radulphus  was 
the  stress  laid  upon  the  principle  of  accommodation  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher  to  the  limited  capacities  of  the  taught.  This  is 
another  point  which  crops  up  again  in  the  MS.  on  Corinthians. 
Wlien  Colet  turned  to  the  practical  teaching  of  St.  Paul  to  the 
Corinthians,  he  seems  to  have  been  struck  with  the  fact  that 
the  rules  which  St.  Paul  laid  down  with  reference  to  marriage 
and  the  like  were  to  be  explained  upon  this  principle.^ 

Carried  away  by  the  authority  of  the  Dionysian  writings, 
Colet  seems  not  only  to  have  held  the  doctrine  of  the  celibacy  of 
the  clergy,  but  even  to  have  regarded  marriage  as  allowed  to  the 
laity  only  by  way  of  concession  to  the  weakness  of  the  flesh. 

^  "  In  these  matters  regard  must  be  had  to  condition  and  strength.  .  .  . 
It  was  thus  that  Moses  taught  the  truth  and  justice  of  God,  as  it  was 
brought  down  to  the  level  of  sensible  things,  and  diluted  for  the  ancient 
Hebrews.  It  was  thus  that  Christ  taught  to  the  disciples  what  they  were 
able  to  bear.  It  was  thus,  lastly,  that  Paul,  both  gently  and  sparingly 
gave  to  the  Corinthians,  as  it  were,  milk  instead  of  meat.  ...  He  spoke 
wisdom  to  the  perfect,  to  the  imperfect  he  accommodated  as  it  were  foolish, 
more  humble  and  more  homely  things.  With  this  design,  also,  he  toler- 
ated indulgently  less  perfect  and  less  absolute  morals  for  a  time,  dealing 
gently  with  them  as  far  as  was  lawful,  not  thinking  how  much  was  lawful 
to  himself,  but  what  was  expedient  to  others;  not  how  much  he  himself 
could  bear,  but  what  was  adapted  to  the  Corinthians."  .  .  . — Leaf  c,  7. 
See  also  leaf  e.  6. 


50  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

He  had  expressed  this  view  in  his  MS.  treatise  on  "  the  Sacra- 
ments," and  he  repeated  it,  under  cover  of  St.  Paul's  allusions 
to  marriage  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

The  influence  of  the  Dionysian  writings  is  indeed  very  fre- 
quently evident.  Again  and  again  the  phraseology  used  by 
Colet  betrays  it,  and  sometimes  a  Dionysian  turn  of  thought 
leads  to  a  long  digression.  As  might  be  expected,  a  notable 
example  of  this  occurs  when  Colet  treats  of  the  chapters  in  the 
epistle  with  which  the  Dionysian  theory  of  the  celestial  hierarchy 
was  intimately  connected;  in  which  St.  Paul  speaks,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  the  church  as  one  body  with  many  members,  and,  on 
the  other,  of  celestial  bodies  and  bodies  terrestrial,  and  their 
differing  order  of  glory.  It  was  probably  about  the  time  that 
Colet  was  lecturing  on  Corinthians  that  Linacre  was  translating 
the  work  of  Proclus,  a  Neo-Platonist  of  the  Alexandrian  School, 
De  SpJierd;  and  Grocyn  writing  a  preface  to  Linacre's  trans- 
lation in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  Aldus,  the  great  printer  at  Venice, 
by  whom  it  was  afterwards  published  in  1499,  in  an  edition  of 
the  Astronomi  veteres}  Astronomy  was  one  of  the  sciences 
which  the  revival  of  learning  had  brought  into  prominence. ^  At 
this  very  moment  Copernicus  was  pursuing  in  Italy  those  studies 
which  resulted  in  the  overturning  of  the  Ptolemaic  system.  That 
system,  however,  which  had  become  inseparably  interwoven 
with  scholastic  theology,  was  as  yet  in  undisputed  ascendency. 
Its  crystalline  spheres  had  for  generations  been  devoutly  believed 
in  by  the  Schoolmen,  and  classed  by  them  among  "  things 
celestial;  "  and  as  Luther  stood  in  awe  at  their  magic  motions, 
as  "no  doubt  done  by  some  angel,"  ^  so  poor  Colet  was  led,  by 
Dionysian  influence,  to  draw  strange  fanciful  analogies  between 
their  '*  differing  order  of  glory "  and  that  of  the  ''  celestial 
hierarchy."  *  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  his  exposition  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  was  even  disfigured  with  diagrams  to 
illustrate  these  fancied  analogies. 

Whilst  thus  pointing  out  the  evidence  that  Colet  was  led  astray 

^  See  Eras.  Op.  iii.  p.  1263,  and  Ihid.  p.  184,  E.  "  1499  was  the  date 
of  the  I  St  edition,  which  is  comprised  in  eight  pages,  and  forms  the  last 
treatise  in  a  volume  of  ancient  writers  on  astronomy,  edited  by  Aldus. 
It  is  intituled,  '  Procli  Diadochi  Sphara,  Astronomiam  discere  Incipienti- 
bus  Vtilissima,  Thoma  Linacro  Britanno  Interprete.'  " — Johnson's  Life 
of  Linacre,  p.  152. 

2  In  a  letter  from  Politian  to  Franciscus  Casa  there  is  a  description  of 
an  "  orrery  "  made  at  Florence.  The  letter  was  written  1484, — Ilhtstrium 
Virorum  EpistolcB  ab  Angela  Politiatio,  n.  1523,  fol.  Ixxxiii. 

'  Luther's  Table  Talk,  "  Of  Astronomy  and  Astrology." 

*  So  also  in  Pico's  Heptaplus  the  same  kind  of  specxilation  is  much 
indulged  in. 


1497]  Colet's  Zeal  for  Reform  51 

by  his  unsuspecting  confidence  in  the  genuineness  of  the  Diony- 
sian  writings,  into  doubtful  speculations  of  this  kind,  and  notions 
upon  even  practical  points,  from  which  his  own  English  common 
sense,  if  left  to  itself,  might  have  protected  him,  it  is  but  fair 
to  point  out  also  the  evidence  contained  in  this  manuscript,  of 
that  zeal  for  ecclesiastical  reform  which  the  purity  of  the  Diony- 
sian  ideal  of  the  priesthood  at  all  events  helped  to  inflame. 
There  is  one  passage  especially,  in  which  he  bursts  out  into  an 
indignant  rebuke  of  those  "  narrow  and  small  minds  "  who  do 
not  see  that  constant  contention  and  litigation  about  secular 
matters  on  the  part  of  the  clergy  "  is  a  scandal  to  the  church." 
Their  folly,  he  thinks,  would  be  ridiculous,  were  it  not  rather  to 
be  wept  over  than  laughed  at,  seeing  that  it  so  injures  and  almost 
destroys  the  church.  "  These  lost  fools  (he  continues)  of  which 
this  our  age  is  full,  amongst  whom  there  are  some  who,  to  say 
the  least,  ought  not  to  be  clergymen  at  all,  but  who  nevertheless 
are  regarded  as  bishops  in  the  church — these  lost  fools,  I  say, 
utterly  ignorant  of  gospel  and  apostolic  doctrine,  ignorant  of 
Divine  justice,  ignorant  of  Christian  truth,  are  wont  to  say,  that 
the  cause  of  God,  the  rights  of  the  church,  the  patrimony  of 
Christ,  the  possessions  of  priests,  ought  to  be  defended  by  them, 
and  that  it  would  be  a  sin  to  neglect  to  defend  them.  0  narrow- 
ness, O  blindness  of  these  men!  .  .  .  with  eyes  duller  than 
fishes !  "  Colet  then  points  out  how  the  church  is  brought  into 
disrepute  with  the  laity  by  their  worldly  proceedings;  whereas, 
if  the  clergy  lived  in  the  love  of  God  and  their  neighbour,  how 
soon  would  their  "  true  piety,  religion,  charity,  goodness  towards 
men,  simplicity,  patience,  tolerance  of  evil  .  .  .  conquer  evil 
with  good !  How  would  it  stir  up  the  minds  of  men  everywhere 
to  think  well  of  the  church  of  Christ !  How  would  they  favour 
it,  love  it,  be  good  and  liberal  towards  it,  heap  gift  upon  gift 
upon  it,  when  they  saw  in  the  clergy  no  avarice,  no  abuse  of 
their  liberality!"  .  .  .  Finally,  after  saying  that  to  a  priest- 
hood seeking  first  the  promotion  and  extension  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  upon  earth,  neither  asking  nor  expecting  anything,  all 
things  would  have  been  added;  and  asking  with  what  face  those, 
who  differ  from  the  laity  only  in  dress  and  external  appearance, 
can  demand  much  from  the  laity,  Colet  exclaims,  "  Good  God! 
how  should  we  be  ashamed  of  this  descent  into  the  world,  if  we 
were  mindful  of  the  love  of  God  towards  us,  of  the  example  of 
Christ,  of  the  dignity  of  the  Christian  religion,  of  our  name  and 
profession." 
Passing  from  this  one  example  of  Colet's  zeal  for  ecclesiastical 


52  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1497 

reform,  there  remains  only  to  be  mentioned  one  other  feature 
of  this  exposition  of  Colet's  which  must  not  be  overlooked;  a 
feature  which  might  seem  to  show  that  Colet  was  not  wholly  un- 
acquainted with  the  writings  of  men  of  the  school  of  Tauler  and 
Thomas  k  Kempis,  and  which  seems  to  connect  itself  with  a 
remark  of  Colet's,  reported  by  Erasmus,  that  he  had  met  on  his 
travels  with  some  German  monks,  amongst  whom  were  still  to 
be  found  traces  of  primitive  religion.  I  allude  to  the  warmth 
with  which  Colet  urges  the  necessity  of  following  the  perfect  but 
not  impossible  example  of  Christ,  of  Christians  being  bound  in  a 
relationship  with  Him,  so  close  that  their  joint  love  for  Christ 
shall  form  a  bond  of  brotherhood  between  themselves  more  close 
than  that  of  blood :  so  that  what  is  for  the  good  of  the  brethren 
will  become  the  test  of  what  is  lawful  in  Christian  practice — the 
earnestness  with  which  he  tried  to  realise  the  secret  of  that 
wonderful  example,  concluding  that  it  lay  in  Christ's  keeping 
himself  as  retired  as  possible  from  the  world — from  the  lust  of 
the  flesh,  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  the  pride  of  life — and  as  close 
as  possible  to  God — in  his  whole  soul  being  dedicated  to  God. 
"  He  was,"  wTites  Colet,  altogether  "  pious,  kind,  gentle,  merci- 
ful, patient  of  evil,  bearing  injuries,  in  his  own  integrity  shun- 
ning empty  popular  fame,  forbidding  both  men  and  demons  to 
publish  his  mighty  power,  in  liis  goodness  always  doing  good 
even  to  the  evil,  as  his  Father  makes  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  just 
and  on  the  unjust.  .  .  .  His  body  He  held  altogether  in  obedience 
and  service  to  his  blessed  mind  .  .  .;  eating  after  long  fasts, 
sleeping  after  long  watching  .  .  .;  caring  nothing  for  what 
belongs  to  wealth  and  fortune.  His  eye  was  single,  so  that  his 
whole  body  was  full  of  light.  .  .  .  Such  is  the  leader  whom  we 
have  on  the  heavenly  road  .  .  .;  whom,  without  doubt,  if  we 
do  not  follow  with  our  whole  strength  toward  heaven,  as  far  as 
we  are  able,  we  shall  never  get  there !  " 

If  Colet  had  risen  out  of  Neo-Platonism  to  Dionysius  and  from 
Dionysius  to  St.  Paul,  it  is  evident  that  he  did  not  rest  even  there. 
How  in  the  following  few  words,  overflowing  as  they  do  with  his 
personal  love  for  St.  Paul,  does  he  give  vent  to  a  still  more  tender 
love  and  reverence  for  Christ  ! 

"  Here  I  stand  amazed,  and  exclaim  those  words  of  my  Paul, 
'  Oh  the  depth  of  the  riches  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
God ! '  0  wisdom !  wonderfully  good  to  men  and  merciful,  how 
justly  thy  loving-kindness  can  be  called  the  *  depth  of  riches ! ' — 
Thou  who  commending  thy  love  towards  us  hast  chosen  to  be  so 
bountiful  to  us  that  Thou  givest  thyself  for  us,  that  we  may 


1497]  Imitation  of  Christ  53 

return  to  Thee  and  to  God.  0  holy,  0  kind,  0  beneficent 
wisdom!  0  voice,  word,  and  truth  of  God  in  man!  truth- 
speaking  and  truth-acting !  who  hast  chosen  to  teach  us  humanly 
that  we  may  know  divinely;  who  hast  chosen  to  be  in  man  that 
we  may  be  in  God;  who  lastly  hast  chosen  in  man  to  be  humbled 
even  unto  death — the  death  even  of  the  cross — that  we  may  be 
exalted  even  unto  life,  the  life  even  of  God." 

It  may  safely  be  concluded,  that  if  Colet's  manuscript  ex- 
positions preserved  at  Cambridge  may  be  taken  as  evidence  of 
the  nature  of  his  public  lectures,  they  may  well  have  excited  all 
the  interest  which  they  seem  to  have  done.  Doctors  of  Divinity, 
coming  to  listen  at  first  that  they  might  find  something  definite 
to  censure,  might  well  indeed  find  something  to  learn.  Amongst 
the  students,  probably,  the  seed  found  a  soil  in  some  degree 
prepared  to  receive  it.  But  it  must  have  required  an  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  most  candid  and  honest  adherents  of  the  tra- 
ditional school  to  reach  the  standpoint  from  which  alone  Colet's 
method  of  free  critical  interpretation  could  be  found  to  be  in 
perfect  harmony  with  his  evident  love  and  reverence  for  the 
Scriptures.  They  attributed  an  extent  of  Divine  inspiration  to 
the  apostle  which  placed  his  words  on  a  level  in  authority  with 
those  of  the  Saviour  himself;  while  Colet,  we  are  told  (and  some 
of  the  passages  last  quoted  seem  to  confirm  the  statement),  was 
wont  to  declare,  "  that  when  he  turned  from  the  Apostles  to  the 
wonderful  majesty  of  Christ,  their  writings,  much  as  he  loved 
them,  seemed  to  him  to  become  poor,  as  it  were,  in  comparison  '■ 
[with  the  words  of  their  Lord]. 

Yet  they  could  hardly  fail  to  see,  whether  they  would  or  not, 
that  while  their  own  system  left  the  Scriptures  hidden  in  the 
background,  Colet's  method  brought  them  out  into  the  light, 
and  invested  them  with  a  sense  of  reality  and  sacredness  which 
pressed  them  home  at  once  to  the  heart. 

VI.  grocyn's  discovery  (1498?) 

Colet  was  not  alone  at  Oxford  in  his  regard  for  the  Pseudo- 
Dionysian  writings. 

Grocyn  was  so  impressed  with  the  genuineness  and  value  of 
the  Celestial  Hierarchy,  that  he  consented  to  deliver  a  course 
of  lectures  upon  it,  about  this  time,  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral.  But 
having  commenced  his  course  by  very  strongly  asserting  its 
genuineness,  and  harshly  condemning  Laurentius  Valla  and 


54  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1498 

others  who  had  started  doubts,  it  chanced  that  when  he  had 
proceeded  with  his  lectures  for  some  weeks,  he  became  himself 
convinced,  by  strong  internal  evidence,  that  the  work  was  not 
written  by  a  disciple  of  St.  Paul;  and  being  an  honest  man 
seeking  for  truth,  and  not  arguing  for  argument's  sake,  was 
obliged  candidly  to  confess  the  unpleasant  discovery  to  his 
audience.^ 

What  effect  this  unexpected  discovery  of  Grocyn's  had  upon 
the  mind  of  Colet  we  are  not  distinctly  informed.  Whether 
Grocyn  was  able  to  convince  him  of  the  truth  of  his  mature 
judgment  does  not  directly  appear.^  He  had  so  earnestly 
embraced  the  Dionysian  writings,  and  they  had  produced  so 
profound  an  impression  upon  his  mind,  that  it  may  readily  be 
believed  that  he  would  be  very  unwilling  to  admit  that  they 
were  spurious.  Nor,  perhaps,  was  it  needful  that  he  should  do 
so.  For,  however  clearly  it  might  be  proved  that  the}^  were  not 
written  by  the  disciple  of  St.  Paul,  it  did  not  therefore  follow 
that  they  were  merely  a  forgery.  The  Pseudo-Dionysius,  who- 
ever he  was,  must  have  been  not  the  less  a  man  of  vast  moral 
power  and  deep  Christian  feeling;  and  possibly  he  may  have  had 
no  fraudulent  intention  in  using  the  pseudonym  of  the  Areopagite, 
if  he  did  so.  The  conscience  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  so  lax 
on  the  point  of  pious  fraud,  may  possibly  have  sanctioned  his 
doing  so. 

It  has  already  been  seen  that,  in  accepting  the  Dionysian 
speculations,  Colet  did  so  because  he  believed  Dionysius  himself 
to  have  simply  committed  to  writing  what  he  had  heard  from  the 
Apostles  themselves,  and  because  he  felt  bound  to  believe  that 
he  "  took  the  greatest  pains  to  appear  to  know  nothing  according 
to  this  world,  thinking  it  unworthy  to  mix  up  human  reason  with 
divine  revelations.^^  ^ 

Supposing  that  Grocyn's  discovery  had  convinced  Colet  that 

^  Eras.  Op.  vi.  p.  503,  F;  Annotationes  in  loco,  Acts  xvii.  v.  34.  The 
edition  of  15 16  does  not  mention  the  anecdote  at  all.  Those  of  15 19  and 
1522  mention  it  as  having  occurred  "  ante  complures  annos."  Also  see 
"  Declamatio  adversus  Censuram  Facultatis  Theol.  Parisien."  Eras. 
Op.  ix.  p.  917  and  Epist.  mccv.  The  former  was  written  in  1530  or  1531, 
and  in  it  he  says: — "  Is  ante  annos  triginta,  Londini  in  aede  Divi  Pauh," 
etc.:  which  gives  the  date  of  Grocyn's  lectures  as  some  time  before  1500 
or  1501.  The  publication  of  the  Paris  edition  of  Dionysius,  in  1498,  may 
have  called  forth  these  lectures. 

*  Jewell,  however,  mentions  John  Colet  as  believing  that  the  Areopagite 
was  not  the  author  of  these  ancient  writings. — Of  Private  Masse,  ed.  1611, 
p.  8. 

»  Vide  supra,  p.  48. 


1498]  Grocyn's  Discovery  55 

the  speculations  of  the  Dionysian  writings  were  not  of  apostohc 
origin — were,  in  fact,  products  of  merely  "  human  reason  "  which 
the  Pseudo-Dionysius  had  "  mixed  up  "  with  Scripture  truth, 
as  Augustine  and  the  Schoolmen  had  mixed  up  with  it  their 
scholastic  speculations,  it  is  clear  that  he  would  be  bound  by  the 
principle  set  forth  in  the  above  passage  to  reject  the  Dionysian 
speculations  as  he  had  already  rejected  those  of  the  Schoolmen. 

He  would  be  bound  to  treat  the  speculations  of  the  Pseudo- 
Dionysius  as  of  no  more  authority  than  those  of  St.  Augustine 
or  Origen,  and  the  practical  result  would  be  likely  to  be,  that  he 
would  be  thrown  back  more  completely  than  ever  upon  the  Bible 
itself,  and  continue  all  the  more  earnestly  to  apply  to  its  inter- 
pretation the  sound,  common-sense,  historical  methods  which 
he  had  already  applied  so  successfully  to  the  exposition  of  the 
Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 

In  the  meantime  it  may  be  readily  imagined  that,  to  a  man 
of  such  deep  feeling  and  impulsive  nature  as  the  occasional  out- 
bursts of  burning  zeal  in  his  writings  show  Colet  to  have  been, 
such  a  disappointment  would  leave  a  sore  place  to  which  he 
would  not  care  often  to  recur  in  conversation  with  his  friends. 

Such  a  shock  as  Grocyn's  discovery  must  have  been  to  him, 
may  have  simply  produced  in  his  mind  a  sense  of  bewilderment 
ending  in  a  suspended  judgment.  He  may  have  returned  to  his 
accustomed  work  feeling  more  than  ever  the  uncertainty  of 
human  speculations,  an  humbler,  a  stronger,  though  perhaps  a 
sadder  man,  more  than  ever  inclined  to  cling  closely  to  the  Scrip- 
tures and  his  beloved  St.  Paul,  and  even  ready  sometimes  to 
turn  with  relief,  as  we  are  told  he  did  with  admiration,  from  the 
involved  logic  of  the  Apostle  to  the  simple  majesty  of  Christ! 


56  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1498 


CHAPTER  III 

I.   ERASMUS    COMES   TO   OXFORD   (1498) 

In  the  spring  or  summer  of  1498^  the  foreign  scholar — Erasmus 
of  Rotterdam — arrived  at  Oxford,  brought  over  to  England  by 
Lord  Mount  joy  from  Paris  .^  Erasmus  was  an  entire  stranger  in 
England;  he  did  not  know  a  word  of  English,  but  was  at  once 
most  hospitably  received  into  the  College  of  St.  Mary  the  Virgin 
by  the  prior  Richard  Charnock.  Colet  had  indeed,  as  already 
mentioned,  heard  Erasmus  spoken  of  at  Paris  as  a  learned 
scholar,  but  as  yet  no  work  of  his  had  risen  into  note,  nor  was 
even  his  name  generally  known.  He  was  scarcely  turned  thirty 
— just  the  age  of  Colet;  ^  but  in  his  wasted  sallow  cheeks  and 
sunken  eyes  were  but  few  traces  left  of  the  physical  vigour  of 
early  manhood.  In  place  of  the  glow  of  health  and  strength, 
were  lines  which  told  that  midnight  oil,  bad  lodging,  and  the 
harassing  life  of  a  poor  student,  driven  about  and  ill-served  as  he 
had  been,  had  already  broken  what  must  have  been  at  best  a 
frail  constitution.     But  the  worn  scabbard  told  of  the  sharpness 

^  The  date  of  Erasmus's  coining  to  England  may  be  approximately  fixed 
as  follows.  Epist.  xxix.  dated  April  12,  and  evidently  written  in  1500, 
after  his  visit  to  England,  mentions  a  fever  which  nearly  killed  Erasmus 
two  years  before.  Comparing  this  with  what  is  said  in  the  "  Life  "  prefixed 
to  vol.  i.  of  Eras.  Op.,  Epist.  vi.  vii.  and  viii.,  dated  Feb.  3,  Feb.  4,  and 
Feb.  12,  seem  to  belong  to  Feb.  1498.  Epist.  vi.  ix.  and  v.  seem  to  place 
his  studies  with  Mountjoy,  at  Paris,  in  the  spring  of  that  year.  Epist. 
xxii.  seems  to  mention  the  projected  visit  to  England.  Epist.  xiv.  "  Lon- 
dini  tumultuarie,"  Dec.  5,  is  evidently  written  after  he  had  been  to  Oxford 
and  seen  Colet,  Grocyn,  and  Linacre,  and  yet  comparatively  soon  after 
his  arrival  in  England.  It  alludes  to  his  coming  to  England,  but  gives  no 
hint  that  he  is  going  to  leave  England.  In  the  winter  of  1499-1500  he  was 
at  Oxford,  intending  to  leave,  but  delayed  by  political  reasons.  He  really 
did  leave  England  Jan.  27, 1500.  Whilst,  therefore,  it  is  just  possible  that 
Epist.  xiv.  may  have  been  written  in  Dec.  1499,  it  is  more  probable  that  it 
was  written  in  Dec.  1498,  and  that  the  first  experience  of  Erasmus  at 
Oxford  had  been  during  the  previous  summer  and  autumn.  This  seems 
to  comport  best  both  with  Epist.  vi.  ix.  v.  and  xxii.,  and  also  with  the 
circumstances  connected  with  his  stay  in  England,  mentioned  in  this 
chapter.  See  also  the  next  note.  The  years  attached  to  the  early  letters 
of  Erasmus  are  not  in  the  least  to  be  relied  on. 

*  Erasmus,  according  to  his  monimient  at  Rotterdam  (Eras.  Op.  i.  (7)), 
was  born  Oct.  28, 1467.  Colet  would  be  born,  say,  Jan.  1467-68,  if  three 
months  younger,  and  would  be  "  annos  ferme  triginta,  in  the  spring  of 
1498."  According  to  Colet's  monimient  he  would  be  31  at  that  date,  as 
he  died  Sept.  16,  1519,  and  the  inscription  states  "  vixit  annos  53." — 
Knight's  Colet,  p.  261. 


1498]  Erasmus  at  Oxford  57 

and  temper  of  the  steel  within.  His  was  a  mind  restless  for 
mental  work,  now  fighting  through  the  obstacles  of  ill-health  and 
poverty,  in  pursuit  of  its  natural  bent,  as  it  had  once  had  to  fight 
its  way  out  of  monastic  thraldom  to  secure  the  freedom  of  action 
which  such  a  mind  required. 

Though  well  schooled  and  stored  with  learning,  yet  he  had 
not  come  to  Oxford  to  teach,  or  to  make  a  name  by  display  of 
intellectual  power,  but  simply  to  add  new  branches  of  knowledge 
to  those  already  acquired.  Greek  was  now  to  be  learned  there 
— thanks  to  the  efforts  of  Grocyn  and  Linacre — and  Erasmus 
had  come  to  Oxford  bent  upon  adding  a  knowledge  of  Greek  to 
his  Latin  lore.  To  belong  to  that  little  knot  of  men  north  of  the 
Alps  who  already  knew  Greek — whose  number  yet  might  be 
counted  on  his  fingers — this  had  now  become  his  immediate 
object  of  ambition.  What  he  meant  to  do  with  his  tools  when  he 
had  got  them,  probably  was  a  question  to  be  decided  by  circum- 
stances rather  than  by  any  very  definite  plan  of  his  own.  To 
gain  his  living  by  taking  pupils,  and  to  lix^e  the  life  of  a  scholar 
at  some  continental  university,  was  probably  the  future  floating 
indistinctly  before  him. 

Prior  Charnock  seems  to  have  at  once  appreciated  Erasmus. 
He  did  all  in  his  power  to  give  him  a  warm  welcome  to  the  univer- 
sity. He  seems  to  have  taken  him  at  once  to  hear  Colet  lecture ;  ^ 
and  he  very  soon  informed  Colet  that  his  new  guest  turned  out  to 
be  no  ordinary  man.  Upon  this  report  Colet  wrote  to  Erasmus 
a  graceful  and  gentlemanly  letter,  giving  him  a  hearty  welcome 
to  England  and  to  Oxford,  and  professing  his  readiness  to  serve 
him. 

Erasmus  replied,  warmly  accepting  Colet's  friendship,  but  at 
the  same  time  telling  him  plainly  that  he  would  find  in  him  a 
man  of  slender  or  rather  of  no  fortune,  with  no  ambition,  but 
warm  and  open-hearted,  simple,  liberal,  honest,  but  timid,  and 
of  few  words.  Beyond  this  he  must  expect  nothing.  But  if 
Colet  could  love  such  a  man — if  he  thought  such  a  man  worthy 
of  his  friendship — he  might  then  count  him  as  his  own. 

Colet  did  think  such  a  man  worthy  of  his  friendship,  and  from 
that  moment  Erasmus  and  he  were  the  best  of  friends.  The 
lord  mayor's  son,  born  to  wealth  and  all  that  wealth  could  com- 
mand, whilst  steeling  his  heart  against  the  allurements  of  city 
and  court  life,  eagerly  received  into  his  bosom-friendship  the 
poor  foreign  scholar,  whom  fortune  had  used  so  hardly,  whose 

*  Else  how  could  Erasmus  describe  Colet's  style  of  speaking  so  clearly 
in  his  first  letter  to  him? — Epist.  xli. 


58  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1498 

orphaned  youth  had  been  embittered  by  the  treachery  of  dis- 
honest guardians,  and  who,  robbed  of  his  slender  patrimony 
and  cast  adrift  upon  the  world  without  resources,  had  hitherto 
scarcely  been  able  to  keep  himself  from  want  by  giving  lessons  to 
private  pupils.  Whether  he  was  likely  to  find  in  the  foreign 
scholar  the  fulfilment  of  his  yearnings  after  fellowship,  it  will  be 
for  further  chapters  of  this  history  to  disclose. 


II.   TABLE-TALK  ON   THE  SACRIFICE  OF  CAIN   AND  ABEL  (1498?) 

It  chanced  that,  after  the  delivery  of  a  Latin  sermon,  the 
preacher — an  accompHshed  divine — was  a  guest  at  the  long 
table  in  one  of  the  Oxford  halls.  Colet  presided.  The  divine 
took  the  seat  of  honour  to  the  left  of  Colet;  Chamock,  the 
hospitable  prior,  sat  opposite;  Erasmus  next  to  the  divine;  and 
a  lawyer  opposite  to  him.  Below  them,  on  either  side,  a  mixed 
and  nameless  group  filled  up  the  table.  At  first  the  tide  of 
table-talk  ebbed  and  flowed  upon  trivial  subjects.  The  con- 
versation turned  at  length  upon  the  sacrifices  of  Cain  and  Abel 
— why  the  one  was  accepted  and  the  other  not. 

Colet — if  we  may  judge  from  the  earnest  way  in  which,  in  his 
exposition  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  he  had  urged  the 
uselessness  of  outward  sacrifices,  unless  accompanied  by  that 
living  sacrifice  of  heart  and  mind  which  they  were  meant  to 
typify — was  not  likely  to  advocate  any  view  which  should  attri- 
bute the  acceptance  of  the  one  offering  and  the  rejection  of  the 
other,  merely  to  any  difference  in  the  offerings  themselves. 
He  would  be  sure  to  place  the  difference  in  the  character  of  the 
men.  Colet  seems  on  this  occasion  to  have  done  so,  and  to  have 
fancied  he  saw  in  the  different  occupations  chosen  by  the  two 
brothers  evidence  of  the  different  spirit  under  which  they  acted. 
The  exact  course  of  the  conversation  we  have  no  means  of  fol- 
lowing. All  we  know  is,  that  Colet  took  one  side,  and  Erasmus 
and  the  divine  the  other,  and  that  the  chief  bone  of  contention 
was  the  suggestion  thrown  out  by  Colet,  that  Cain  had  in  the 
first  instance  offended  the  Almighty  by  his  distrust  in  the  Divine 
beneficence,  and  too  great  confidence  in  his  own  art  and  industry, 
and  that  this  was  proved  by  his  having  been  the  first  to  attempt 
to  till  the  cursed  ground;  while  Abel,  with  greater  resignation, 
and  resting  content  with  what  nature  still  spontaneously  yielded, 
had  chosen  the  gentle  occupation  of  a  shepherd. 

There  may  have  been  something  fanciful  in  the  view  urged  by 


1498]  Erasmus'  Story  about  Cain  59 

Colet,  but  it  is  evident  that  it  covered  a  truth  which  he  could 
not  give  up,  however  hard  and  long  his  opponents  might 
argue. 

Erasmus  was  astonished  at  Colet's  earnestness  and  power. 
He  seemed  to  him  "  like  one  inspired.  In  his  voice,  his  eye, 
his  whole  countenance  and  mien,  he  seemed  raised,  as  it  were, 
out  of  himself." 

Erasmus  and  the  divine  both  felt  themselves  beaten ;  but  it  is 
not  always  easy  for  the  vanquished  to  yield  gracefully,  and  the 
discussion,  growing  warmer  as  it  proceeded,  might  have  risen 
even  to  intemperate  heat,  had  not  Erasmus  dexterously  wound 
it  round  to  a  happy  conclusion  by  pretending  to  remember  that 
he  had  once  met  with  a  curious  story  about  Cain  in  an  old  worm- 
eaten  manuscript  whose  title-page  time  had  destroyed.  The 
disputants  were  all  attention,  and  Erasmus,  having  thus  tickled 
their  curiosity,  was  induced  to  tell  the  story,  after  extracting  a 
promise  from  the  hsteners  that  they  would  not  treat  it  as  a  fable. 
He  then  drew  upon  his  ready  wit,  and  improvised  the  following 
story: — 

"  This  Cain  was  a  man  of  art  and  industry,  and  withal  greedy 
and  covetous.  He  had  often  heard  from  his  parents  how,  in 
the  garden  from  which  they  had  been  driven,  the  com  grew  as 
tall  as  alder-bushes  unchoked  by  tares,  thorns,  or  thistles.  When 
he  brooded  over  these  things,  and  saw  how  meagre  a  crop  the 
ground  produced,  after  all  his  pains  in  tilling  it,  he  was  tempted 
to  resort  to  treachery.  He  went  .to  the  angel  who  was  the 
appointed  guardian  of  paradise  and,  plying  him  with  crafty  arts, 
tempted  him  with  promises  to  give  him  secretly  just  a  few  grains 
from  the  luxuriant  crops  of  Eden.  He  argued  that  so  small  a 
theft  could  not  be  noticed,  and  that  if  it  were,  the  angel  could 
but  fall  to  the  condition  men  were  in.  Why  was  his  condition 
better  than  theirs  ?  Men  were  driven  out  of  the  garden  because 
they  had  eaten  the  apple.  He,  being  set  to  guard  the  gate,  could 
enjoy  neither  paradise  nor  heaven.  He  was  not  even  free,  as 
they  were,  to  wander  where  he  liked  upon  earth!  Many  good 
things  were  still  left  to  men.  With  care  and  labour  the  world 
might  be  cultivated,  and  human  misery  so  far  lessened  by  dis- 
coveries and  arts  of  all  kinds,  that  at  length  men  might  not  need 
to  be  envious  even  of  Eden.  It  was  true  that  they  were  infested 
by  diseases,  but  human  art  would  find  the  cure  for  these  in  time. 
Perhaps  some  day  something  might  even  be  found  which  would 
make  life  immortal.  When  man  by  his  industry  had  made  the 
earth  into  one  great  garden,  the  angel  would  be  shut  out  from  it. 


6o  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1498  | 

as  well  as  from  heaven  and  Eden.  Let  him  do  what  he  could  ! 
for  men  without  harm  to  himself,  and  then  men  would  do  what  ; 
they  could  for  him  in  return.  The  worst  man  will  carry  the  j 
weakest  cause,  if  he  be  but  the  best  talker.  A  few  grains  were  J 
obtained  by  stealth,  and  carefully  sown  by  Cain.  These  being  I 
sprung  up,  produced  an  increased  number.  The  multipHed  seed  I 
was  again  sown,  and  the  process  repeated  time  after  time.  • 
Before  many  harvests  had  passed  the  produce  of  the  stolen  seed  j 
covered  a  wide  tract  of  country.  When  what  was  taking  place  \ 
on  earth  became  too  conspicuous  to  be  longer  concealed  from  j 
heaven,  God  was  exceedingly  wroth.  *  I  see,'  He  said,  '  how  | 
this  fellow  delights  in  toil  and  sweat;  I  will  heap  it  upon  him  to  ! 
his  fill.'  He  spoke,  and  sent  a  dense  army  of  ants  and  locusts  to  ; 
blight  Cain's  cornfields.  He  added  to  these  hailstorms  and  . 
hurricanes.  He  sent  another  angel  to  guard  the  gate  of  | 
paradise,  and  imprisoned  the  one  who  had  favoured  man  in  a  ■ 
human  body.  Cain  tried  to  appease  God  by  burnt-offerings  of  > 
fruits,  but  found  that  the  smoke  of  his  sacrifice  would  not  rise  ■ 
towards  heaven.  Understanding  from  this  that  the  anger  of  j 
God  was  determined  against  him,  he  despaired  /  "  j 

Thus,  with  this  clever  impromptu  fable  did  Erasmus  grace-  I 
fully  contrive  to  throw  the  weight  of  his  altered  opinion  into  i 
Colet's  scale,  and  at  the  same  time  to  restore  the  whole  party  to  j 
wonted  good  humour.  Meanwhile  what  he  had  seen  of  Colet  i 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  him.  He  himself  declared  that  he 
never  had  enjoyed  an  after-dinner  talk  so  much.     It  was,  he  said,  I 

wanting  in  nothing.  j 

I 

This  little  glimpse  given  by  Erasmus  himself  of  his  first  expe-  j 
rience  of  Oxford  hfe  is  of  value,  not  only  as  revealing  his  own  i 
early  impressions  of  Colet  and  Oxford,  but  also  as  throwing  some  j 
httle  light  upon  the  position  which  Colet  himself  had  taken  in  j 
the  University  after  a  year's  labour  at  his  post.  That  he  should  ; 
be  chosen  to  preside  at  the  long  table  on  this  occasion  was  a 
mark  at  least  of  honour  and  respect;  while  the  way  in  which  j 
he  evidently  gave  the  tone  to  the  conversation,  and  became  so  \ 
thoroughly  the  central  figure  in  the  group,  shows  that  this  respect  i 
was  true  homage  paid  to  character,  and  not  to  mere  wealth  and  ' 
station.  Then,  again,  the  fact  that  Erasmus,  a  stranger,  with-  j 
out  purse  or  name,  should  have  had  assigned  to  him  the  second  j 
seat  of  honour,  second  only  to  the  special  guest  of  the  day,  was  \ 
in  itself  a  proof  of  the  same  hearty  appreciation  by  Charnock  and  j 
Colet  of  character,  without  regard  to  rank  or  station.    Would  it  ' 


1498]  Colet  and  Erasmus  6i 

have  been  so  everywhere?    Had  Erasmus  been  so  treated  at 
Paris ?i 

No  wonder  that  the  letters  of  Erasmus^  written  during  these 
his  first  months  spent  at  Oxford,  should  bear  witness  to  the 
dehght  with  which  he  found  himself  received,  all  stranger  as  he 
was,  into  the  midst  of  a  group  of  warm-hearted  friends  with 
whom,  for  the  first  time  in  his  hfe,  he  found  what  it  was  to  be  at 
home.  "  I  cannot  tell  you,"  he  wrote  to  his  friend  Lord  Mount- 
joy,  "  how  delighted  I  am  with  your  England.  With  two  such 
friends  as  Colet  and  Charnock,  I  would  not  refuse  to  live  even  in 
Scythia!"2 

III.  CONVERSATION  BETWEEN  COLET  AND  ERASMUS  ON  THE 
SCHOOLMEN  (1498   Or   I499) 

But  although  Erasmus  had  formed  the  closest  friendship  with 
Colet,  and  was  learning  more  and  more  to  understand  and  admire 
him,  it  was  long  before  he  was  sufficiently  one  in  heart  and  purpose 
to  induce  Colet  to  unburden  to  him  his  whole  mind.  - 

He  did  so  only  by  degrees.  When  he  thought  his  friend  really 
in  earnest  in  any  passing  argument  he  would  tell  him  fully  what 
his  own  views  were.  But  Colet  hated  the  Schoolmen's  habit  of 
arguing  for  argument's  sake,  and  felt  that  Erasmus  was  as  yet 
not  wholly  weaned  from  it.  It  was  a  habit  which  had  been 
fostered  by  the  current  practice  of  asserting  wiredrawn  distinc- 
tions and  abstruse  propositions  for  the  mere  display  of  logical 
skill;  and  Colet's  reverence  for  truth  shrank  from  this  public 
vivisection  of  it  merely  to  feed  the  pride  of  the  dissector.  It 
pained  and  disgusted  him. 

Erasmus  had  been  educated  at  Paris  in  the  "  straitest  sect  "  of 
Scholastic  theologians.  He  had  there  studied  theology  in  the 
college  of  the  Scotists,  and  been  trained  in  that  logical  subtlety 
for  which  the  school  of  Duns  Scotus  was  distinguished. 

But  he  found  Colet,  instead  of  regarding  the  Scotists  as  won- 
derfully clever,  declaring  that  "  they  seemed  to  him  to  be  stupid 
and  dull  and  anything  but  clever.  For  to  cavil  about  different 
sentences  and  words,  now  to  gnaw  at  this  and  now  at  that,  and 
to  dissect  everything  bit  by  bit,  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  mark 
of  a  poor  and  barren  mind." 

^  See  his  colloquy,  Ichthyophagia,  in  which  he  describes  his  college 
experience  at  Paris,  especially  his  physical  hardships.  The  latter  are 
probably  caricatured,  and  perhaps  too  much  magnified  for  the  description 
to  be  taicen  literally. 

*  Erasmus  to  Lord  Mountjoy:  Epist.  xlii.  Oxoniae,  1498. 


62  The  Oxford  Rerormers  [1498 

But  Colet  had  not  quarrelled  only  with  the  logical  method  of 
the  Schoolmen;  he  owed  the  scholastic  philosophy  itself  a  still 
deeper  grudge. 

The  system  of  the  Schoolmen  professed  to  embrace  the  whole 
range  of  universal  knowledge.  It  was  not  confined  strictly  to 
religion;  it  included,  also,  questions  of  philosophy  and  science. 
And  these  were  settled  by  isolated  texts  from  the  Bible,  or  dicta 
of  the  earlier  Schoolmen,  and  not  by  the  investigation  of  facts. 
A  theology  so  dogmatic  and  capricious  could  consistently 
admit  of  no  progress.  Every  discovery  of  science  or  philo- 
sophy, contrary  to  the  dicta  of  the  Schoolmen,  must  be 
regarded  as  a  crime.  It  was  the  logical  result  of  an  inherent  vice 
in  the  system  that  Brunos  and  Gahleos,  in  after  ages,  were 
tortured  by  successors  of  the  Schoolmen  into  the  denial  of 
inconvenient  truths. 

This  might  do  all  very  well  in  stagnant  times,  but  in  an  age 
when  the  new  art  of  printing  was  reviving  ancient  learning,  and 
new  worlds  were  turning  up  in  hitherto  untracked  seas,  men  who, 
like  Colet,  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  new  era,  soon  found  out 
that  the  summce  theologice  of  the  Schoolmen  were  no  sum  of  theo- 
logy at  all;  that  their  science  and  philosophy  were  grossly  defi- 
cient; and  that  if  Christianity  must  in  truth  stand  or  fall  with 
scholastic  dogmas,  then  the  accession  of  new  light  would  be  likely 
to  lead  honest  inquirers  after  truth  to  reject  it,  and  to  accept  in 
its  place  the  refined  semi-pagan  philosophy  which  had  accom- 
panied the  revival  of  learning  in  Italy.  Yet  these  were  the 
alternatives  which  the  Schoolmen,  in  common  with  the  cham- 
pions of  dogmatic  creeds  in  all  ages,  tried  to  force  upon  mankind. 
Their  cry  was,  as  that  of  their  scholastic  successors  has  been,  and 
is,  "  Our  Christianity  or  none." 

Colet  had  seen  in  Italy  which  of  these  two  alternatives  those 
who  came  within  the  influence  of  the  new  learning  were  inclined 
to  take.  But  he  had  seen  or  heard,  too,  in  Italy,  of  a  third  alter- 
native. He  had  found  a  Christianity,  not  scholastic,  not  dog- 
matic, which  did  not  seem  to  him  to  have  anything  to  fear  from 
free  inquiry,  for  it  was  itself  one  of  those  facts  which  free 
inquiry  had  brought  once  more  to  light:  the  reproduction  of  its 
ancient  records  in  their  original  languages  was  itself  one  of  the 
results  of  the  new  learning.  He  had  found  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment a  simple  record  of  the  facts  of  the  life  of  Christ,  and  a  few 
apostolic  letters  to  the  churches.  It  had  brought  him,  not  to  an 
endless  web  of  propositions  to  the  acceptance  of  which  he  must 
school  his  mind,  but  to  a  person  whom  to  love,  in  whom  to  trust, 


1498]  Colet*s  Theology  63 

and  for  whom  to  work.  He  would  not  rest  even  in  the  teach- 
,  ing  of  his  beloved  St.  Paul.  He  had  been  taught  by  the 
Apostle  to  look  up  from  him  to  the  "  wonderful  majesty  of 
Christ;  "  and  loyalty  to  Christ  had  become  the  ruling  passion  of 
his  life. 

Having  rejected  the  summce  theologies  of  the  Schoolmen, 
even  before  his  faith  had  been  shaken,  by  Grocyn's  discovery, 
in  Dionysian  speculations,  his  disappointment  also  in  the 
latter  would  seem  to  have  driven  him  back  upon  the  Scriptures, 
upon  the  writings  of  St.  Paul,  above  all  upon  Christ  himself; 
until  at  last  he  had  seemed  to  find  in  the  simple  facts  of  the 
Apostles'  Creed  thje,.ti:^ue  su,m_o|  Chrisjtiaij.  Jheology.  Having 
entrenched"  his  faith  behind  its  simple  bulwarks,  he  could  look 
calmly  out  upon  the  world  of  philosophy  and  nature,  with  a 
mind  free  to  accept  truth  wherever  he  might  find  it,,..without 
anxiety  as  to  what  the  revivalof  ancient  learning,  or  the  dis- 
coveries of  new-born  science,  might  reveal,  anxious  chiefly  to 
*  find  out  his  own  lifers  work  and  duty,  and  right  heartily  to  do  it. 
^  And  having  escaped  the  trammels  of  scholastic  theology 
himself,  he  could  urge  others  also  to  do  the  same.  When,  there- 
fore, young  theological  students  came  to  him  in  despair,  on  the 
point  of  throwing  up  theological  study  altogether,  because  of 
the  vexed  questions  in  which  they  found  it  involved,  and  dread- 
ing lest  in  these  days,  when  everything  was  called  in  question, 
they  might  be  found  unorthodox,  he  was  wont,  it  seems,  to  tell 
them  "  to  keep  firmlyto  the  Bible  and  the  Apostles'  Criy^^j^  and 
let  divines,'irilieylike,"3ispute  about  the  rest."/^ 
"But  Erasmus  as  yet  had  far  from  attained  the  same  standpoint. 
He  was  himself  in  the  very  position  above  described.  His 
experience  in  the  Scotist  college  in  Paris  had  not  been  lost  upon 
him.  It  was  not  only  that  its  filthy  chambers  and  diet  of  rotten 
eggs  had  ruined  his  constitution  for  life.    He  had  contracted 

^  See  the  following  extract  from  the  colloquy  of  Erasmus,  PieUts 
puerilis,  edition  Argent.  1522,  leaf  e,  4,  and  Basileae,  1526,  p.  92,  and 
Eras.  Op.  i.  p.  653. 

"  Erasmus.  Many  abstain  from  divinity  because  they  are  afraid  lest 
they  should  waver  in  the  catholic  faith,  when  they  see  there  is  nothing 
which  is  not  called  in  question. 

"  Caspar.  I  believe  firmly  what  I  read  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  the 
creed  called  the  Apostles',  and  I  don't  trouble  my  head  any  further.  I 
leave  the  rest  to  be  disputed  and  defined  by  the  clergy,  if  they  please. 

"  Erasmus.     What  Thales  taught  you  that  philosophy? 

"  Caspar.  I  was  for  some  time  in  domestic  service  "  [as  More  was  in 
the  house  of  Cardinal  Morton  before  he  was  sent  to  Oxford],  "  with  that 
honestest  of  men,  John  Colet.  He  imbued  me  with  these  precepts."  Sec 
Argent.  1522,  leaf  c,  4. 


64  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1498  \ 

within  its  walls  a  disgust  of  all  theological  study.  He  describes  j 
himself  as,  previously  to  his  visit  to  England,  "  abhorring  the ; 
study  of  theology;  "  and  gives,  as  his  double  reason  for  it,  the  j 
fear  lest  he  might  run  foul  of  settled  opinions;  and  lest,  if  he  did  j 
so,  he  should  be  branded  with  the  name  of  "  heretic." 

Disgusted,  however,  as  he  was  with  theology,  all  his  theologi-  j 
cal  training  had  hitherto  been  scholastic  in  its  character,  and,  1 
apart  from  his  disgust  of  theology  in  general,  he  does  not  seem  ! 
as  yet  to  have  contracted  any  special  disgust  of  scholastic  theo-  j 
logy  in  particular.  He  was  still  too  much  enamoured  of  the»! 
logic  of  the  Schoolmen,  and  too  often  was  found  to  take  the  I 
Schoolmen's  side  in  his  discussions  with  his  friend.  . 

Colet  and  Erasmus  had  been  conversing  one  day  upon  the  1 
character  of  the  Schoolmen.  Colet  had  expressed  his  sweeping  j 
disapprobation  of  the  whole  class.  Erasmus,  whose  knowledge  ''■ 
of  their  works  was,  as  he  afterwards  acknowledged,  by  no  means  ! 
deep,  at  length  ventured,  in  renewing  the  conversation  at  | 
another  time,  to  except  Thomas  Aquinas  from  the  common  herd,' 
as  worthy  of  praise,  alleging  in  his  favour  that  he  seemed  to  havej' 
studied  both  the  Scriptures  and  ancient  literature — which  doubt-*' 
less  he  had.  Colet  made  no  reply.  And  when  Erasmus  pursued*  I 
the  subject  still  further,  Colet  again  passed  it  off,  feigning'; 
inattention.  But  when  Erasmus,  in  the  course  of  further  con-* ! 
versation,  again  expressed  the  same  opinion  in  favour  of  Aquinas,  ' 
and  spoke  more  strongly  even  than  before,  Colet  turned  his;  \ 
full  eye  upon  him  in  order  to  learn  whether  he  really  were' ; 
speaking  in  earnest;  and  concluding  that  it  was  so — "  What,"  ' 
he  said  passionately, '  *  do  you.  extol  to  me  5uch  a  man  as  Aquinas  ?  ! 
If  he  had  not  been  very  arrogant  indeed,  he  would  not  surely  \ 
so  rashly  and  proudly  have  taken  upon  himself  to  define  all  j 

things. And  unless  his  spirit  had  been  somewhat  worldly,  he  i 

would  not  surely  have  corrupted  the  whole  teaching  of  Christ  by  ' 
mixing  with  it  his  profane  philosophy."  ' 

Erasmtts  was  taken  aback,  as  he  had  been  at  the  discussion  at  ■ 
the  public  table.  He  had  again  been  arguing  without  sufficient  ; 
knowledge  to  justify  his  having  any  strong  opinion  at  all.  Which  \ 
side  he  took  on  the  question  at  issue  was  a  matter  almost  of  in-  ; 
difference  to  him.  But  he  saw  plainly  that  it  was  not  so  with  ; 
Colet.  His  first  allusion  to  Aquinas,  Colet  had  resolutely  shunned,  i 
When  compelled  to  speak  his  opinion,  his  soul  was  moved  to  its  ; 
depths,  and  had  burst  forth  into  this  passionate  reply.  There  i 
must  be  something  real  and  earnest  at  the  bottom  of  Colet's 
dislike  for  Aquinas,  else  he  could  not  have  spoken  thus. 


1498]  The  "  Summa  "  of  Aquinas  65 

So  Erasmus  betakes  himself  to  the  more  careful  study  of  the 
great  schoolman's  writings. 

One  may  picture  him  taking  down  from  the  shelf  the  Summa 
Theologice,  and,  as  the  first  step  towards  the  exploration  of  its 
contents,  turning  to  the  prologue.     He  reads : — 

''  Seeing  that  the  teacher  of  catholic  truth  should  instruct  not 
only  those  advanced  in  knowledge,  but  that  it  is  a  part  of  his  duty 
to  teach  beginners  (according  to  the  words  of  the  Apostle  to  the 
Corinthians,  *  even  as  unto  babes  in  Christ,  I  have  fed  you  with 
jg*  milk  and  not  with  strong  meat '),  it  is  our  purpose  in  this  book  to 
*  treat  of  those  things  which  pertain  to  the  Christian  religion  in  a 
\{   manner  adapted  to  the  instruction  of  beginners. 
I      '^  For  we  have  considered  that  novices  in  this  learning  have  been 
very  much  hindered  in  [the  study  of]  works  written  by  others; 
i  partly,  indeed,  on  account  of  the  multiplication  of  useless  ques- 
tions, articles,  and  arguments,  and  partly  [for  other  reasons].    To 
avoid  these  and  other  difficulties  we  shall  endeavour,  relying  on 
Divine  assistance,  to  treat  of  those  things  which  belong  to  sacred 
learning,  so  far  as  the  subject  will  admit,  with  brevity  and 
clearness." 

What  could  be  better  or  truer  than  this?  Erasmus  might 
almost  have  fancied  that  Colet  himself  had  written  these  words, 
so  fully  do  they  seem  to  fall  in  with  his  views.  But  turning 
from  the  prologue,  nothing  surely  could  open  the  eyes  of  Erasmus 
more  thoroughly  to  the  real  nature  of  scholastic  theology  than  a 
further  glance  at  the  body*of"the"tr6atise.  For  what  was  he  to 
think  of  a  system  of  theology  a.'^  brief"  compendium  of  which 
covered  no  fewer  than  1150  folio  pages,  each  containing  2000 
words!  And  what  was  he  to  think  of  the  wisdom  of  that  Chris- 
tian doctor  who  prescribed  this  Summa  SiS  *' milk"  specially 
adapted  for  the  sustenance  of  theolagic^l  "babes  " !  To  be  told 
first  to  digest  forty-three  propositions  concerning  the  nature  of 
God,  each  of  which  embraced  several  distinct  articles  separately 
discussed  and  concluded  in  the  eighty-three  folios  devoted  to 
this  branch  of  the  subject;  then  fifteen  similar  propositions 
regardirrg^^tihe^nature  of  angels,  embracing  articles  such  as 
these: — 

v^' hether  an  angel  can  be  in  more  than  one  place  at  one  and  the 

same  time? 
Whether  more  angels  than  one  can  be  in  one  and  the  same 

place  at  the  same  time  ? 
Whether  angels  have  local  motion  ? 

c 


66  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1498  \ 

And  whether,  if  they  have,  they  pass  through  intermediate    j 
space  ?  ( 

— then  ten  propositions  regarding  the  Creation,  consisting  of  an  \ 
elaborate  attempt  to  bring  into  harmony  the  work  of  the  six  1 
days  recorded  in  Genesis  with  mediaeval  notions  of  astronomy;  ■ 
then  forty-five  propositions  respecting  the  nature  of  man  before  j 
and  after  the  Fall,  the  physical  condition  of  the  human  body  in  '' 
Paradise,  the  mode  by  which  it  was  preserved  immortal  by  eating  ': 
the  tree  of  life,  the  place  where  man  was  created  before  he  was;^ 
placed  in  Paradise,  etc;  and  then,  having  mastered  the  above'  '' 
subtle  propositions,  stated  "  briefly  and  clearly  "  in  216  of  the  ■ 
aforesaid  folio  pages,  to  be  told  for  his  consolation  and  encourage-  \ 
ment  that  he  had  now  mastered  7tot  quite  one-fifth  part  of  this  ' 
"  first  book  "  for  beginners  in  theological  study,  and  that  these  , 
propositions,  and  more  than  five  times  as  many,  were  to  be 
regarded  by  him  as  the  settled  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church !  1 
— what  student  could  fail  either  to  be  crushed  under  the  dead  ^ 
weight  of  such  a  creed,  or  to  rise  up,  and,  like  Samson,  bursting  -| 
its  green  withes,  discard  and  disown  it  altogether?  " 

No  marvel  that  Erasmus  was  obliged  to  confess  that,  in  -the  /' 
process  of  further  study  of  the  works  of  Aquinas,  his  former  high  *  j 
opinion  had  been  modified.  He  could  understand  now  how  it  ,v 
was  that  Colet  could  hardly  control  his  indignation  at  the'  j 
thought,  how  the  simple  facts  of  Christianity  had  been  cor-  •! 
nipted  by  the  admixture  of  the  subtle  philosophy  of  this  "  best  j 
of  the  Schoolmen."  j 

And  yet  we  may  well  be  free  to  own  that  Colet's  not  unnatural  | 
hatred  of  the  scholastic  philosophy  had  blinded  him  in  some  \ 
degree  to  the  personal  merits  of  the  early  Schoolmen.  Deeper  | 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  their  times,  and  study  of  the  per-  ' 
sonal  character  at  least  of  some  of  them,  might  have  enabled  him  \ 
not  only  to  temper  his  hatred,  but  even  to  recognise  that  they  .; 
occupied  in  their  day  a  standpoint  not  widely  different  alto-  ) 
gether  even  from  his  own. 

For  as  earnestly  as  Colet  himself  was  now  seeking  to  bring  the   j 
Christianity  and  advanced  thought  of  his  age  into  harmony,   j 
the  early  Schoolmen  had  tried  to  do  the  same  thing  in  theirs.    ; 
The  misfortune  of  the  Schoolmen  was,  that  they  had  inherited 
from  St.  Augustine,  and  the  Pseudo-Dionysius,  the  vicious  ten- 
dency to  fill  up  blanks  in  theology  by  indulging  in  hypotheses, 
capable  of  receiving  the  sanction  of  ecclesiastical  authority,  and 
then  to  be  treated  as  established,  although  altogether  unverified 


1498]  Erasmus  and  the  Schoolmen  67 

by  facts.  They  had  also  to  harmonise  the  dogmatic  theology 
so  manufactured  with  a  scientific  system  as  dogmatic  as  itself. 
For  while  theologians  had  been  indulging  in  hypotheses  re- 
specting "original  sin/'  "absolute  predestination/'  and  "irre- 
sistible grace/'  natural  philosophers  had  been  indulging  in 
similar  hypotheses  respecting  the  "  crystalline  spheres/'  "  epi- 
cycloids/' and  "  primum  mobile.''  ^  And  seeing  that  the  method 
by  which  the  Schoolmen  attempted  to  fuse  these  two  dogmatic 
systems  into  one,  itself  consisted  of  a  still  further  indulgence  in 
the  same  vicious  mode  of  procedure,  it  was  but  natural  that 
their  attempt  as  a  whole,  however  well  meant,  should  leave 
*'  confusion  worse  confounded." 

Still  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  they  did  succeed  by  this 
vicious  process  in  reconciling  theology  and  science  to  the  satis- 
faction of  their  own  dogmatic  age.  This  praise  is,  at  least,  their 
due.  On  the  other  hand,  their  successors  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries  could  not  put  forward  any  such  claims  for 
themselves.  They  did  not  succeed  in  harmonising  the  theology 
and  the  advanced  thought  of  their  age.  They  strained  every 
nerve  to  keep  them  hopelessly  apart.  They  blindly  held  on  to 
a  worn-out  system  inherited  from  their  far  worthier  predeces- 
sors, and  spent  their  strength  in  denouncing,  in  no  measured 
terms,  the  scientific  spirit  and  inductive  method  of  the  "  new 
learning." 

Hence  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Colet's  hatred  of  what  in 
his  day  was  in  truth  a  huge  and  bewildering  mass  of  dreary  and 
lifeless  subtlety,  was  a  just  and  righteous  hatred.  And  though 
it  took  some  time  for  Erasmus  thoroughly  to  accept  it,  he  coi3d 
in  after  years,  when  Colet  was  no  more,  endorse,  from  the  bottom 
of  his  heart,  Colet's  advice  to  young  theological  students :  "  Keepl 
to  the  Bible  and  the  Apostles'  Creed;  and  let  divines,  if  they  like,  I 
dispute  about  the  rest."  ««*-»• 

1  See  The  Praise  of  Folly,  Eras.  Op.  iv.  p,  462,  where  the  dogmatic  science 
of  the  age  is  as  severely  satirised  by  Erasmus  as  the  dogmatic  theology  of 
the  Schoolmen.  Thus  Folly  is  made  to  say: — "  With  what  ease,  truly, 
do  they  indulge  in  day-dreams  {delirant),  when  they  invent  innvunerable 
worlds,  and  measure  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  the  earth,  as  though  by 
thmnb  and  thread ;  and  render  a  reason  for  thunder,  winds,  eclipses,  and 
other  inexplicable  things,  without  the  least  hesitation,  as  though  they  had 
been  the  secret  architects  of  all  the  works  of  nature,  or  as  though  they  had 
come  down  to  us  from  the  council  of  the  gods.  At  whom  and  whose  con- 
jectures nature  is  mightily  amused  !  " 


68  The  Oxford  Reformers  C1498-9 


IV.  ERASMUS   FALLS  IN  LOVE  WITH  THOMAS  MORE  (1498) 

Amongst  the  broken  gleams  of  light  which  fall,  here  and  there 
only,  upon  the  Oxford  intercourse  of  Erasmus  with  Colet,  there 
are  one  or  two  which  reveal  an  already  existing  friendship  with 
Thomas  More,  but  imfortunately  without  disclosing  how  it  had 
begun. 

Erasmus,  when  passing  through  London  on  his  way  to  Oxford, 
had  probably  been  introduced  by  Lord  Mount  joy  to  his  brilliant 
young  friend.  It  is  even  possible  that  there  may  be  a  foundation 
of  fact  in  the  story  that  they  had  met  for  the  first  time,  unknown 
to  each  other,  at  the  lord  mayor's  table,  or,  as  is  more  likely 
still,  at  the  table  of  the  ex-lord  mayor.  Sir  Henry  Colet.  Eras- 
mus, having  perhaps  been  told  Colet's  saying,  that  there  was 
but  one  genius  in  England,  and  that  his  name  was  Thomas  More, 
may  have  been  set  opposite  to  him  at  table  without  knowing  who 
he  was.  More  in  his  turn  may  have  been  told  of  the  logical 
subtlety  of  the  great  scholar  newly  arrived  from  the  Scotist 
college  in  Paris,  without  having  been  personally  introduced  to 
him.  If  this  were  so,  the  rest  of  the  story  may  easily  be  true. 
They  are  said  to  have  got  into  argument  during  dinner,  Erasmus, 
in  Scotist  fashion,  "  defending  the  worser  part,"  till  finding  in  his 
young  opfMDnent  "  a  readier  wit  than  ever  he  had  before  met 
withal,"  he  broke  forth  into  the  exclamation,  "  Aut  iu  es  Morus 
aut  nullus;^'  to  which  the  ready  tongue  of  More  retorted — so 
runs  the  story,  ^'  Aut  tu  es  Erasmus  aut  Diabolus.^'  ^  Whether  at 
the  lord  mayor's  table,  or  elsewhere,  they  had  become  acquainted, 
and  a  correspondence  had  grown  up  between  them,  one  letter  of 
which,  like  a  solitary  waif,  has  been  left  stranded  on  the  shore  of 
the  gulf  which  has  swallowed  the  rest.    It  reads  thus: — 

Erasmus  Thomce  Moro  suo,  S.D. 

"  I  scarcely  can  get  any  letters,  wherefore  I  have  showered 
down  curses  on  the  head  of  this  letter-carrier,  by  whose  laziness 
or  treachery  I  fancy  it  must  be  that  I  have  been  disappointed 
of  the  most  eagerly  expected  letters  of  my  dear  More  (Mori  mei). 
For  that  you  have  failed  on  your  part  I  neither  want  nor  ought 
to  suspect.  Albeit,  I  expostulated  with  you  most  vehemently 
in  my  last  letter.  Nor  am  I  afraid  that  you  are  at  all  offended 
by  the  liberty  I  took,  for  you  are  not  ignorant  of  that  Spartan 
*  Cresacre  More's  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  p.  93. 


1498-9]  Erasmus  and  More  69 

method  of  fighting  '  usque  ad  cutem.'  This,  joking  aside,  I 
do  entreat  you,  sweetest  Thomas,  that  you  will  make  amends 
with  interest  for  the  suffering  occasioned  me  by  the  too  long 
continued  deprivation  of  yourself  and  your  letters.  I  expect, 
in  short,  not  a  letter,  but  a  huge  bundle  of  letters,  which  would 
weigh  down  even  an  Egyptian  porter," 

"  Vale  jucundissime  More. 
"Oxoniae:  Natali  Simonis  et  Judae.     1499." 

Such  being  the  friendship  already  existing  between  them, 
and  beginning  to  show  itself  in  the  use  of  those  endearing 
superlatives  without  which  Erasmus,  from  the  first  to  the  last, 
never  could  write  a  letter  to  More,  it  is  not  surprising  that,  as 
winter  came  on,  Erasmus  should  take  the  opportunity  afforded 
by  the  approaching  vacation  for  a  visit  to  London.  Accordingly 
we  get  one  chance  glimpse  of  him  there,  writing  a  letter  to  one 
of  his  friends,  and  expressing  his  delight  with  everything  he  had 
met  with  in  England. 

Staying  as  he  most  likely  was  with  Mount  joy  or  with  More, 
enjoying  the  warmth  of  their  friendship,  and  feeling  himself  at 
home  in  London  as  he  had  done  in  Oxford,  but  never  had  done 
before  anywhere  else,  it  was  natural  that  the  foreign  scholar 
should  paint,  in  the  warmest  colours,  this  land  of  friends. 
Especially  of  Mount  joy,  who  had  brought  him  to  England,  and 
who  found  him  the  means  of  living  at  Oxford,  he  would  naturally 
speak  in  the  highest  terms.  Such  was  the  politeness,  the  good- 
nature, and  affectionateness  of  his  noble  patron,  that  he  would 
willingly  follow  him,  he  said,  ad  inferos,  if  need  be. 

Nor  was  it  only  the  warm-heartedness  of  his  English  friends 
which  filled  him  with  delight.  His  purpose  in  coming  to  Oxford 
he  declared  to  be  fully  answered.  He  had  come  to  England 
because  he  could  not  raise  the  means  for  a  longer  journey  to 
Italy.  To  prosecute  his  studies  in  Italy  had  been  for  years  an 
object  of  anxious  yearning;  but  now,  after  a  few  months'  ex- 
perience of  Oxford  life,  he  wrote  to  his  friend,  who  was  himself 
going  to  Italy,  "  that  he  had  found  in  England  so  much  polish 
and  learning — not  showy,  shallow  learning,  but  profound  and 
exact,  both  in  Latin  and  Greek — that  now  he  would  hardly  care 
much  about  going  to  Italy  at  all,  except  for  the  sake  of  having 
been  there.  When,"  he  added,  "  I  listen  to  my  friend  Colet 
it  seems  to  me  like  listening  to  Plato  himself.  In  Grocyn,  who 
does  not  admire  the  wide  range  of  his  knowledge?    What  could 


70  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1499 

be  more  searching,  deep,  and  refined  than  the  judgment  of 
Linacre?  "  And  after  this  mention  of  Colet,  Groc)^!,  and 
Linacre,  he  adds:  "Whenever  did  nature  mould  a  character 
more  gentle,  endearing,  and  happy  than  Thomas  More's?  " 

So  that  while  here,  as  elsewhere,  Colet  seems  to  take  his  place 
again  as  the  chief  of  the  little  band  of  English  friends,  we  learn 
from  this  letter  that  the  picture  would  not  have  been  complete 
without  the  figure  of  the  fascinating  youth  with  whom  Erasmus, 
like  the  rest  of  them,  had  fallen  in  love. 

The  letter  itself  was  written  to  Robert  Fisher,  from  London 
"  tumultuarie,"  December  5,  in  1498  or  1499. 


v.  DISCUSSION  BETWEEN  ERASMUS  AND  COLET  ON  "  THE  AGONY 
IN  THE  GARDEN,"  AND  ON  THE  INSPIRATION  OF  THE  SCRIP- 
TURES (1499) 

The  greater  part  of  1499  was  spent  by  Erasmus  apparently 
at  Oxford.  On  one  occasion  Colet  and  Erasmus  were  spending 
an  afternoon  together.  Their  conversation  fell  upon  the  agony 
of  Christ  in  the  garden.  They  soon,  as  usual,  found  that  they 
did  not  agree.  Erasmus,  following  the  common  explanation  of 
the  Schoolmen,  saw  only  in  the  agony  suffered  by  the  Saviour 
that  natural  fear  of  a  cruel  death  to  which  in  his  human  nature 
he  submitted  as  one  of  the  incidents  of  humanity.  It  seemed 
to  him  that  in  his  character  as  truly  man,  left  for  the  moment 
unaided  by  his  divinity,  the  prospect  of  the  anguish  in  store  for 
Him  might  well  wring  from  Him  that  cry  of  fearful  and  trembling 
human  nature,  "  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from 
me !  "  while  the  further  words,  "  not  my  will  but  Thine  be  done," 
proved,  he  thought,  that  He  had  not  only  felt,  but  conquered, 
this  human  fear  and  weakness.  Erasmus  further  supported  this 
view  by  adducing  the  commonly  received  scholastic  distinction 
between  what  Christ  felt  as  man  and  what  He  felt  as  God,  alleging 
that  it  was  only  as  man  that  He  thus  suffered. 

Colet  dissented  altogether  from  his  friend's  opinion.  It  might 
be  the  commonly  received  interpretation  of  recent  divines,  but 
in  spite  of  that  he  declared  his  own  entire  disapproval  of  it. 
Nothing  could,  he  thought,  be  more  inconsistent  with  the  ex- 
ceeding love  of  Christ,  than  the  supposition  that,  when  it  came 
to  the  point.  He  shrank  in  dread  from  that  very  death  which  He 
desired  to  die  in  His  great  love  of  men.  It  seemed  utterly 
absurd,  he  said,  to  suppose  that  while  so  many  martyrs  have 
gone  to  torture  and  death  patiently  and  even  with  joy — the 


1499]  Colet  on  "Christ's  Agony"  71 

sense  of  pain  being  lost  in  the  abundance  of  their  love — Christ, 
who  was  love  itself,  who  came  into  the  world  for  the  very  pur- 
pose of  delivering  guilty  man  by  his  own  innocent  death,  should 
have  shrunk  either  from  the  ignominy  or  from  the  bitterness  of 
the  cross.  The  sweat  of  great  drops  of  blood,  the  exceeding 
sorrow  even  unto  death,  the  touching  entreaty  to  his  Father 
that  the  cup  might  pass  from  Him — was  all  this  to  be  attributed 
to  the  mere  fear  of  death?  Colet  had  rather  set  it  down  to  any- 
thing but  that.  For  it  lies  in  the  essence  of  love,  he  said,  that 
it  should  cast  out  fear,  turn  sorrow  into  joy,  think  nothing  of 
itself,  sacrifice  everything  for  others.  It  could  not  be  that  He 
who  loved  the  human  race  more  than  any  one  else  should  be  in- 
constant and  fearful  in  the  prospect  of  death.  In  confirmation 
of  this  view  he  referred  to  St.  Jerome,  who  alone  of  aU  the  church 
fathers  Tiad,  he  thought,  shown  true  insight  into  the  real  cause 
of  Christ's  agony  in  the  garden.  St.  Jerome  had  attributed  the 
SavioTir^prayer;  that  the  cup  might  pass  froni  Him,  not  to  the 
fear  of  death  but  to  the  sense  felt  by  Him  of  the  awful  guilt  of 
the  Jews,wK67by  thus  bringing  about  that  death  which  He  desired 
to  die  for  the  salvation  of  all  mankind ,  seemed  to  be  bringing 
down  destruction  and  ruin  on  themselves — an  anxiety  and  dread 
bitter  enough,  In  Colet's  view,  to  wring  from  the  Saviour  the 
prayer  that  the  cup  might  pass  from  Him,  and  the  drops  of 
bloody  sweat  in  the  garden,  seeing  that  it  afterwards  did  wring 
from  Him,  whilst  perfecting  his  eternal  sacrifice  on  the  cross, 
that  other  prayer  for  the  very  ministers  of  his  torture,  "  Father, 
forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they  do !  "  Such  was  the 
view  expressed  by  Colet  in  reply  to  Erasmus,  and  in  opposition 
to  the  view  which  he  was  aware  was  generally  received  by 
scholastic  divines. 

Whilst  they  were  in  the  heat  of  the  discussion  it  happened 
that  Prior  Chamock  entered  the  room.  Colet,  with  a  delicacy 
of  feeling  which  Erasmus  afterwards  appreciated,  at  once  broke 
ofiE  the  argument,  simply  remarking,  as  he  took  leave,  that  he  did 
not  doubt  that  were  his  friend,  when  alone,  to  reconsider  the 
matter  with  care  and  accuracy,  their  difference  of  opinion  would 
not  last  very  long. 

When  Erasmus  found  himself  alone  and  at  leisure  in  his 
chambers,  he  at  once  followed  Colet's  advice.  He  reconsidered 
Colet's  argument  and  his  own.  He  consulted  his  books.  By 
far  the  most  of  the  authorities,  both  Fathers  and  Schoolmen,  he 
found  beyond  dispute  to  be  on  his  own  side.  And  his  recon- 
sideration ended  in  his  being  the  more  convinced  that  he  had 


72  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1499 

himself  been  right  and  Colet  wrong.  Naturally  finding  it  hard 
to  yield  when  there  was  no  occasion,  and  feeling  sure  that  this 
time  he  had  the  best  of  the  argument,  he  eagerly  seized  his  pen, 
and  with  some  parade,  both  of  candour  and  learning,  stated  at 
great  length  what  he  thought  might  be  said  on  both  sides.  After 
having  written  what,  in  t5^e,  would  fill  about  thirty  of  these 
pages,  he  confidently  wound  up  his  long  lette  by  saying  that,  so 
far  as  he  could  see,  he  had  demonstrated  his  own  opinion  to  be 
in  accordance  with  that  of  the  Schoolmen  and  most  of  the  early 
Fathers,  and,  whilst  not  contrary  to  nature,  clearly  consistent 
with  reason.  But  he  knew,  he  said,  to  whom  he  was  writing, 
and  whether  he  had  convinced  Colet  he  could  not  tell.  For,  he 
wrote  in  conclusion,  "  how  rash  it  is  in  me,  a  mere  tyro,  to  dare  to 
encounter  a  commander — for  one,  whom  you  call  a  rhetorician,  to 
venture  upon  theological  ground,  to  enter  an  arena  which  is  not 
mine !  Still  I  have  not  slirunk  from  daring  everything  even  with 
you,  who  are  so  skilled  in  all  elegant  and  ancient  lore,  who  have 
brought  with  you  from  Italy  such  stores  of  Greek  and  Latin, 
and  who,  on  this  very  account,  are  not  as  yet  appreciated  as 
you  ought  to  be  by  theologians.  Wherefore,  in  discussing  with 
you,  I  have  chosen  to  use  the  old  and  free  way  of  arguing;  not 
only  because  I  prefer  it  myself,  but  also  because  I  knew  your 
dislike  to  the  modern  and  new-fangled  method  of  disputation, 
which,  keen  and  ready  as  it  may  seem  to  some,  is  in  your  view 
complicated,  superstitious,  spiritless,  and  plainly  sophistical. 
And  perhaps  you  are  right.  .  .  .  Yet  I  would  have  you  take  care 
lest  you  should  not  be  able  to  stand  alone  against  so  many 
thousands.  Let  us  not,  contented  with  the  plain  homespun 
sense  of  Origen,  Ambrose,  Jerome,  Augustine,  Chrysostom,  and 
others  as  ancient,  grudge  to  these  modern  disputants  their  more 
elaborated  doctrines. 

"  And  now  I  await  your  attack.  I  await  your  mighty  war- 
trumpet.  I  await  those  '  Coletian  '  arrows,  surer  even  than  the 
arrows  of  Hercules.  In  the  meantime  I  will  array  the  forces 
of  my  mind;  I  will  concentrate  my  ranks;  I  will  prepare  my 
reserves  of  books,  lest  I  should  not  be  able  to  stand  your  first 
charge. 

"  As  to  the  rest,  the  matters  which  you  have  propounded  from 
the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  since  they  are  such  as  it  would  be 
dangerous  to  dispute  of,  I  had  rather  enter  into  them  by  word 
of  mouth  when  we  are  together  than  by  letter.     Vale  !  " 

The  reply  of  Colet  was  short,  and  very  characteristic  of  the  man. 


1499]  Colet's  Love  of  Truth  73 

"  Your  letter,  most  learned  Erasmus,  as  it  is  very  long,  so 
also  is  it  most  eloquent  and  happy.  It  is  a  proof  of  a  tenacious 
memory,  and  gives  a  faithful  review  of  our  discussion.  .  .  .  But 
it  contains  nothing  to  alter  or  detract  from  the  opinions  which  I 
imbibed  from  St.  Jerome.  Not  that  I  am  perverse  and  obstinate 
with  an  uncandid  pertinacity,  but  that  (though  I  may  be  mis- 
taken) I  think  I  hold  and  defend  the  truth,  or  what  is  most  like 
the  truth.  ...  I  am  unwilling,  just  now,  to  grapple  with  your 
letter  as  a  whole ;  for  I  have  neither  leisure  nor  strength  to  do  so 
at  once,  and  without  preparation.  But  I  will  attack  the  first 
part  of  it — your  first  line  of  battle  as  it  were.  ...  In  the  mean- 
time do  you  patiently  hear  me,  and  let  us  both,  if,  when  striking 
our  flints  together,  any  spark  should  fly  out,  eagerly  catch  at  it. 
For  we  seek,  not  for  victory  in  argument,  but  for  truthy  which 
perchance  may  be  elicited  by  the  clash  of  argument  with 
argument,  as  sparks  are  by  the  clashing  of  steel  against 
steel!" 

Erasmus,  at  the  commencement  of  his  long  letter,  feeling, 
perhaps,  that  after  all  there  might  be  some  truth  in  Colet's  view 
not  embraced  in  his  own,  had  fallen  back  upon  the  strange  theory 
already  alluded  to  as  held  by  scholastic  divines,  that  the  words 
of  the  Scriptures,  because  of  their  magic  sacredness  and  absolute 
inspiration,  might  properly  be  interpreted  in  several  distinct 
senses.  "  Nothing  "  (he  had  said)  "  forbids  our  drawing  various 
meanings  out  of  the  wonderful  riches  of  the  sacred  text,  so  as  to 
render  the  same  passage  in  more  than  one  way.  I  know  that, 
according  to  Job,  '  the  word  of  God  is  manifold.'  I  know  that 
the  manna  did  not  taste  alike  to  all.  But  if  you  so  embrace 
your  opinion  that  you  condemn  and  reject  the  received  opinion, 
then  I  freely  dissent  from  you." 

This  was  the  first  line  of  battle  which  Colet,  in  his  letter, 
declared  that  he  would  at  once  attack.  It  was  a  notion  of 
Scripture  interpretation  altogether  foreign  to  his  own.  He 
yielded  to  none  in  his  admiration  of  the  wonderful  fulness  and 
richness  of  the  Scriptures.  He  had  made  it  the  chief  matter  of 
his  remark  to  the  priest  who  had  called  on  him  during  the  winter 
vacation  of  1496-7,  and  had  written  to  the  Abbot  of  Winch- 
combe  an  account  of  the  priest's  visit  in  order  to  press  the  same 
point  upon  him.  But  from  the  method  adopted  in  his  exposi- 
tions of  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  and  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  it 
appears  that  he  did  not  hold  the  theory  of  uniform  verbal  in- 
spiration, which  ignored  the  human  element  in  Scripture,  round 


74  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1499 

which  had  grown  this  still  stranger  theory  of  the  manifold  senses, 
and  upon  which  alone  it  could  be  at  all  logically  held. 

It  is  true  that,  in  his  abstract  of  the  Dionysian  writings,  he 
had,  upon  Dionysian  authority,  accepted,  in  a  modified  form,^ 
the  doctrine  of  the  "  four  senses  "  of  Scripture;  and  in  his  letters 
to  Radulphus,  whilst  confining  himself  to  the  literal  sense,  he 
guarded  himself  against  the  denial  of  the  same  theory.  But  he 
had  never  sanctioned  the  gross  abuse  of  the  doctrine  to  which 
Erasmus  had  appealed,  which  asserted  that  even  the  literal  sense 
of  the  same  passage  might  be  interpreted  to  mean  different  things. 
It  was  one  thing  to  hold  that  some  passages  must  be  allegorically 
understood  and  not  literally,  and  that  other  passages  have  both 
a  literal  and  an  allegorical  meaning  (which  Colet  seems  to  have 
held),  or  even  that  all  passages  have  both  a  literal  and  an  alle- 
gorical meaning  (which  Colet  did  not  hold).  It  was  quite  another 
thing  to  hold  that  the  words  of  the  same  passage  might,  in  their 
literal  sense,  mean  several  different  things,  and  be  used  as  texts 
in  support  of  statements  not  within  the  direct  intention  of  their 
human  writer. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  in  his  Summa,  had  indeed  laid  down  a 
proposition  which  practically  amounted  to  this.  For  in  dis- 
cussing the  doctrine  of  the  "  four  senses  "  of  Scripture,  he  had 
not  only  stated  that  the  spiritual  sense  of  Scripture  was  three- 
fold, viz.  allegorical,  moral,  and  anagogical,  but  also  that  the 
literal  sense  was  manifold.  He  had  laid  down  the  doctrine,  that 
"  Inasmuch  as  the  literal  sense  is  that  which  the  author  intends, 

*  "  From  this  order,  any  one  may  perceive  the  reason  of  the  four  senses 
in  the  old  law  which  are  customary  in  the  church.  The  literal  is,  when 
the  actions  of  the  men  of  old  time  are  related.  When  you  thinlc  of  the 
image,  even  of  the  Christian  church  which  the  law  foreshadows,  then  you 
catch  the  allegorical  sense.  When  you  are  raised  aloft,  so  as  from  the 
shadow  to  conceive  of  the  reality  which  both  represent,  then  there  dawns 
upon  you  the  anagogic  sense.  And  when  from  signs  you  observe  the 
instruction  of  individual  man,  then  all  has  a  n^oral  tone  for  you.  ...  In 
the  writings  of  the  New  Testament,  saving  when  it  pleased  the  Lord  Jesus 
and  his  Apostles  to  speak  in  parables,  as  Christ  often  does  in  the  Gospels, 
and  St.  John  throughout  in  the  Revelation,  all  the  rest  of  the  discourse,  in 
which  either  the  Saviour  teaches  his  disciples  more  plainly,  or  the  disciples 
instruct  the  churches,  has  the  sense  that  appears  on  the  surface.  Nor  is 
one  thing  said  and  another  meant,  but  the  very  thing  is  meant  which  is 
said,  and  the  sense  is  wholly  literal.  Still,  inasmuch  as  the  church  of  God 
is  figurative,  conceive  always  an  anagoge  in  what  you  hear  in  the  doctrines 
of  the  church,  the  meaning  of  which  will  not  cease  till  the  figure  has  become 
the  truth.  From  this  moreover  conclude,  that  where  the  literal  sense  is, 
then  the  allegorical  sense  is  not  always  along  with  it;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  where  there  is  the  allegorical  sense,  the  literal  sense  is  always 
underlying  it." — Colet's  abstract  of  the  Eccl.  Hier.,  Mr.  Lupton's  trans- 
lation, pp.  105-7;  and  see  Mr.  Lupton's  note  on  this  passage. 


1499]  Colet  on  "  Inspiration  ''  75  ; 

and  God  is  the  author  of  Holy  Scripture,  who  comprehends  all  \ 
things  in  His  mind  at  one  and  the  same  time,  it  is  not  incon-  \ 
sistent,  as  Augustine  says  in  his  twelfth  Confession,  if  even  : 
according  to  the  literal  sense  in  the  one  letter  of  the  Holy  ! 
Scriptures  there  are  many  senses."  ' 

It  may,  however,  well  be  doubted  whether  Aquinas  would  ^ 
have  sanctioned  altogether  the  absurd  length  to  which  this  \ 
doctrine  was  carried  by  scholastic  disputants. 

Whether  Colet,  since  Grocyn's  discovery,  had  or  had  not  | 
altogether  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  "  manifold  senses,"  as  one  , 
of  the  notions  which  he  had  once  held  on  Dionysian  authority,  : 
but  which  the  authority  of  the  Pseudo-DionysiMS  was  not  suffi-  ' 
cient  to  establish,  it  is  clear  that  in  his  reply  to  Erasmus  he  ^ 
utterly  repudiated  the  abuse  of  it  to  which  Erasmus  had  appealed.  I 
"  In  the  first  place  "  (he  wrote),  *'  I  cannot  agree  with  you  when  i 
you  state,  along  with  many  others,  and  as  I  think  mistakenly,  i 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures,  at  least  uno  in  aliquo  genere,  are  so  j 
prolific  that  they  give  birth  to  many  senses.  Not  that  I  would  { 
not  have  them  to  be  as  prolific  as  possible — their  overflowing  < 
fecundity  and  fulness  I,  more  than  others,  admire — but  that  I  I 
consider  their  fecundity  to  consist  in  their  giving  birth  not  to  ' 
many  (senses),  but  to  only  one,  and  that  the  most  true  one."        \ 

After  remarking  that  whilst  the  lower  forms  of  life  produce  j 
the  most  numerous  offspring,  the  highest  forms  of  life  tend  j 
towards  unity  of  offspring,  he  argues  that  the  Holy  Spirit  gives  ' 
birth  in  the  Scripture,  according  to  its  own  power,  to  one  and  ■ 
the  same  simple  truth.  What  if  from  the  simple,  divine,  and  j 
truth-speaking  words  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  j 
whether  heard  or  read,  many  and  various  persons  draw  many  ' 
and  varying  senses?  He  set  that  down,  he  said,  not  to  the  : 
fecundity  of  the  Scriptures,  but  to  the  sterility  of  men's  minds,  ' 
and  their  incapacity  of  getting  at  the  pure  and  simple  truth.  If  j 
they  could  but  reach  that,  they  would  as  completely  agree  as  now  i 
they  differ.  He  then  remarked  how  mysterious  the  inspiration  ' 
of  the  Scriptures  was;  how  the  Spirit  seemed  to  him,  by  reason  ■ 
of  its  majesty,  to  have  a  peculiar  method  of  its  own,  singularly  ; 
absolute  and  free,  blowing  where  it  lists,  making  prophets  of  \ 
whom  it  will,  yet  so  that  the  spirit  of  the  prophets  is  subject  to  ; 
the  prophets.  He  repeated,  in  conclusion,  that  he  admired  the  j 
fulness  of  the  Scriptures,  not  because  each  word  may  be  construed  j 
in  several  senses — that  would  be  want  of  fulness — but  because  1 
quot  sententi(s  totidem  sunt  verba,  et  quot  verba  tot  sententiee.  \ 
Having  said  this,  he  was  ready  to  descend  into  the  arena,  and   I 


76 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1499 


to  join  battle  with  Erasmus  on  the  matter  in  dispute,  but  he 
could  not  do  so  now;  he  was  called  away  by  other  engagements, 
and  must  end  his  letter  for  the  present.^ 

The  letters  which  followed  in  which  Colet  further  pursued  the 
subject  of  the  Agony  in  the  Garden  have  unfortunately  been 
lost.  But  enough  remains  to  give,  by  a  passing  glimpse,  some 
idea  of  the  pleasant  colloquies  and  earnest  converse,  both  by 
mouth  and  letter,  in  which  the  happy  months  of  college  inter- 
course glided  swiftly  by. 

VI.   CORRESPONDENCE   BETWEEN    COLET   AND    ERASMUS    ON   THE 
INTENTION  OF  ERASMUS  TO  LEAVE  OXFORD  (1499-1500) 

The  winter  vacation  of  1499-1500  had  apparently  dispersed 
for  a  while  the  circle  of  Oxford  students.  Erasmus  having,  it 
would  seem,  some  friend  at  Court,  had  joined  the  Royal  party, 
probably  spending  Christmas  at  Woodstock  or  some  other  hunt- 
ing station.  He  was  at  first  delighted  with  Court  manners  and 
field  sports,  and  in  a  letter,  written  about  this  time,  he  jocosely 
told  a  Parisian  friend,  that  the  Erasmus  whom  he  once  had 
known  was  now  a  hunter,  and  his  manners  polished  up  into  those 
of  an  experienced  courtier.  He  was  greatly  struck,  he  added, 
with  the  beauty  and  grace  of  the  English  ladies,  and  urged  him 
to  let  nothing  less  than  the  gout  hinder  his  coming  to  England. 

But  while  Court  Hfe  might  captivate  at  first,  Erasmus  had  soon 
found  out  that  its  glitter  was  not  gold.  As  the  wolf  in  the  fable 
lost  his  relish  for  the  dainties  and  delicate  fare  of  the  house-dog 
when  he  saw  the  mark  of  the  collar  on  his  neck,  so  when  Erasmus 
had  seen  how  little  of  freedom  and  how  much  of  bondage  there 
was  in  the  courtier's  life  he  had  left  it  with  disgust;  choosing 
rather  to  return  to  Oxford  to  share  the  more  congenial  society  of 
what  students  might  be  found  there  during  these  vacation  weeks, 
than  to  remain  longer  with  "  be-chained  courtiers."  He  was 
waiting  only  for  time  and  tide  to  return  to  Paris.  At  present 
the  weather  was  too  rough  for  so  bad  a  sailor;  and,  owing 
to  political  disquiet  and  danger,  it  was  difficult  to  obtain  the 
needful  permission  to  leave  the  realm. 

The  fear  that  Erasmus  was  so  soon  to  leave  Oxford  was  one 

which  troubled  Colet's  vacation  thoughts.    To  be  left  alone  at 

^  This  reply  of  Colet  to  the  long  letter  of  Erasmus  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  published  in  the  early  editions  of  the  latter.  Thus  I  do  not  find  it 
in  the  editions  of  Schurerius,  Argent.  15 16,  and  again  15 17.  The  earliest 
print  of  it  that  I  have  seen  is  that  appended  to  the  Enchiridion,  etc., 
Basle,  1518. 


1499]      Erasmus  Prepares  to  Leave  Oxford     77 

Oxford  again  to  fight  his  way  single-handed  was  by  no  means  a 
cheering  prospect.  But  his  saddest  feeling  was  one  not  merely 
of  sorrow  at  parting  with  his  new  friend — it  was  a  feeling  of  dis- 
appointment. He  had  hoped  for  more  than  he  had  found  in 
Erasmus.  That  he  could  have  won  over  Erasmus  all  at  once  to 
his  own  views  and  plans  he  had  never  dreamed.  The  scholar 
had  his  own  bent  of  mind,  and  of  course  his  own  plans.  Such 
was  his  love  of  learning  for  its  own  sake,  that  he  was  bent  on 
constant  and  persevering  study;  and  his  stay  at  Oxford  he 
looked  upon  merely  as  one  step  in  the  ladder,  valuable  chiefly 
because  it  led  to  the  next.  But  Colet  longed  for  fellowship. 
In  his  friend  he  had  sought,  and  in  some  measure  found,  fellow- 
feeling.  But  feeling  and  action  to  him  were  too  closely  linked 
to  make  that  all  he  wanted.  Fellow-feeling  was  to  him  but  a 
half-hearted  thing  unless  it  ripened  into  fellow-work;  and  he 
had  hoped  for  this  in  Erasmus.  He  had  purposely  left  Erasmus 
to  find  out  his  views  and  to  discern  his  spirit  by  degrees.  He 
had  not  tried  to  force  him  in  anywise.  He  had  shown  his  wisdom 
in  this.  But  now  that  Erasmus  talked  of  leaving  Oxford,  it 
was  Colet's  duty  to  speak  out.  He  could  not  let  him  go  with- 
out one  last  appeal.  He  therefore  wrote  to  him,  telling  him 
plainly  of  his  disappointment.  He  urged  him  to  remain  at 
Oxford.  He  urged  him,  once  for  all,  to  come  out  boldly,  ^s  he 
himself  had  done,  and  to  do  his  part  in  the  great  work  of  restoring 
that  old-and~trae  theology  of  Christ,  so  long  obscured  by  the 
subtle  welSr^of  the  Schoolmen,  in  its  pristine  brightness  and 
dignity.  What  could  he  do  more  noble  than  this  ?  There  was 
plenty  of'fDtJm  for  both  of  them.  He  himself  was  doing  his 
best  to  expound  the  New  Testament.  Why  should  not  Erasmus 
take  some^'Book"  "of  the  Old  Testament,  say  Genesis  or  Isaiah, 
and  expound  it,  as  he  had  done  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul?  If  he 
could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  do  this  at  once,  Colet  urged  that, 
as  a  temporary  alternative,  he  should  lecture  on  some  secular 
branch  of  study.  Anything  was  better  than  that  he  should  leave 
Oxford  altogether.^ 

Erasmus  received  this  letter  soon  after  his  return  from  his 
short  experience  of  Court  life.  The  tone  of  disappointment 
and  almost  reproof  pervading  it  Erasmus  felt  was  undeserved 
on  his  part,  yet  it  evidently  made  a  deep  impression  upon  him. 
Looking  back  upon  his  intercourse  with  Colet  at  Oxford,  he  must 
have  seen  how  much  it  had  done  to  change  his  views,  and  felt 

^  Colet's  letter  to  Erasmus  has  been  lost,  but  the  above  may  be  gathered 
from  the  reply  of  Erasmus. 


j8  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1499 

how  powerfully  Colet's  influence  had  worked  upon  him.  Yet 
he  knew  how  far  his  views  were  from  being  matured  like  Colet's, 
and  how  fooHsh  it  would  be  to  begin  publicly  to  teach  before  his 
own  mind  was  fully  made  up.  He  knew  that  Colet  had  brought 
him  over  very  much  to  his  way  of  thinking,  and  he  was  ready  to 
confess  himself  a  disciple  of  Colet's;  but  he  must  digest  what 
he  had  learned,  and  make  it  thoroughly  his  own,  before  he  could 
publicly  teach  it.  Perhaps  he  might  one  day  be  able  to  join 
Colet  in  his  work  at  Oxford;  but  he  thought,  and  probably 
wisely,  that  the  time  had  not  yet  come.  This  at  least  may  be 
gathered  from  his  reply  to  Colet's  letter.  With  some  abridge- 
ment and  unimportant  omissions,  it  may  be  translated  thus: — 

Erasmus  to  Colet 

,  ,  .  "In  what  you  say  of  your  dislike  to  the  modern  race  of 
divines,  who  spend  their  lives  in  mere  logical  tricks  and  sophisti- 
cal cavils,  in  very  truth  I  entirely  agree  with  you. 

"  Not  that,  valuing  as  I  do  all  branches  of  study,  I  condemn 
the  studies  of  these  men  as  such,  but  that  when  they  are  pursued 
for  themselves  alone,  unseasoned  by  more  ancient  and  elegant 
literature,  they  seem  to  me  to  be  calculated  to  make  men  sciolists 
and  contentious;  whether  they  can  make  men  wise  I  leave  to 
others.  For  they  exhaust  the  mental  powers  by  a  dry  and  biting 
subtlety,  without  infusing  any  vigour  or  spirit  into  the  mind. 
And,  worst  of  all,  theology,  the  queen  of  all  science — so  richly 
adorned  by  ancient  eloquence — they  strip  of  all  her  beauty 
by  their  incongruous,  mean,  and  disgusting  style.  What  was 
once  so  clear,  thanks  to  the  genius  of  the  old  divines,  they  clog 
with  some  subtlety  or  other,  thus  involving  everything  in 
obscurity  while  they  try  to  explain  it.  It  is  thus  we  see  that 
theology,  which  was  once  most  venerable  and  full  of  majesty, 
^ow  almost  dumb,  poor,  and  in  rags. 
'^""  In  the  meantime  we  are  allured  by  a  never-satiated  appetite 
for  strife.  One  dispute  gives  rise  to  another,  and  with  wonder- 
ful gravity  we  fight  about  straws.  Then,  lest  we  should  seem 
to  have  added  nothing  to  the  discoveries  of  the  old  divines,  we 
audaciously  lay  down  certain  positive  rules  according  to  which 
God  has  performed  his  mysteries,  when  sometimes  it  might  be 
better  for  us  to  believe  that  a  thing  was  done,  leaving  the  ques- 
tion of  how  it  was  done  to  the  omnipotence  of  God.  So,  too,  for 
the  sake  of  showing  our  ingenuity,  we  sometimes  discuss  questions 
which  pious  ears  can  hardly  bear  to  hear;  as,  for  instance,  when 


1499]  Erasmus  to  Colet  79 

it  is  asked  whether  the  Almighty  could  have  taken  upon  Him 
the  nature  of  the  devil  or  of  an  ass. 

*'  Besides  all  this,  in  our  times  those  men  in  general  apply 
themselves  to  theology,  the  chief  of  all  studies,  who  by  reason 
of  their  obtuseness  and  lack  of  sense  are  hardly  fit  for  any  study 
at  all.  I  say  this  not  of  learned  and  upright  professors  of  theo- 
logy, whom  I  highly  respect  and  venerate,  but  of  that  sordid  and 
haughty  pack  of  divines  who  count  all  learning  as  worthless 
except  their  own. 

"  Wherefore,  my  dear  Colet,  in  having  joined  battle  with 
this  redoubtable  race  of  men  for  the  restoration,  in  its  pristine 
brightness  and  dignity,  of  that  old  and  true  theology,  which 
they  have  obscured  by  their  subtleties,  you  have  in  very  truth 
engaged  in  a  work  in  many  ways  of  the  highest  honour — a  work 
of  devotion  to  the  cause  of  theology,  and  of  the  greatest  advan- 
tage to  all  students,  and  especially  the  students  of  this  flourishing 
University  of  Oxford.  Still,  to  speak  the  truth,  it  is  a  work 
of  great  difficulty,  and  one  sure  to  excite  ill-will.  Your  learning 
and  energy  will,  however,  conquer  every  difficulty,  and  your 
magnanimity  will  easily  overlook  ill-will.  There  are  not  a 
few,  even  among  divines  themselves,  both  able  and  willing  to 
second  your  honest  endeavours.  There  is  no  one,  indeed,  who 
would  not  give  you  a  hand,  since  there  is  not  even  a  doctor  in 
this  celebrated  University  who  has  not  given  attentive  audience 
to  your  public  readings  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  now  of  three 
years'  standing.  And  which  is  the  most  praiseworthy  in  this, 
their  modesty  in  not  being  ashamed  to  learn  from  a  young  man 
without  doctor's  degree,  or  your  remarkable  learning,  eloquence, 
and  integrity  of  life,  which  they  have  thought  worthy  of  such 
honour  ? 

"  I  do  not  wonder  that  you  should  put  your  shoulder  under  so 
great  a  burden,  for  you  are  able  to  bear  it,  but  I  do  wonder 
greatly  that  you  should  call  me,  who  am  nothing  of  a  man,  into 
the  fellowship  of  so  glorious  a  work.  For  you  exhort — yes,  you 
almost  reproachfully  urge  me,  that,  by  expounding  either  the 
ancient  Moses  ^  or  the  eloquent  Isaiah,  in  the  same  way  as  you 
have  expounded  St.  Paul,  I  should  try,  as  you  say,  to  kindle  up 
the  studies  of  this  University,  now  chilled  by  these  winter 
months.     But  I,  who  have  learned  to  live  in  solitude,  know  well 

^  Tt  is  possible  that  Colet  himself  had,  at  one  time,  thought  of  expound- 
ing the  book  of  Genesis,  but  the  manuscript  letters  to  Radulphus  appended 
to  the  copy  of  the  MS.  on  the  "  Romans,"  in  the  library  of  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Cambridge,  contain  no  allusion  to  any  such  intention. 


8o  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1499 

how  imperfectly  I  am  furnished  for  such  a  task;  nor  do  I  lay- 
claim  to  sufficient  learning  to  justify  my  undertaking  it.  Nor 
do  I  judge  that  I  have  strength  of  mind  enough  to  enable  me  to 
sustain  the  ill-will  of  so  many  men  stoutly  maintaining  their 
own  ground.  Matters  of  this  kind  require  not  a  tyro,  but  a 
practised  general.  Nor  can  you  rightly  call  me  immodest  in 
refusing  to  do  what  I  should  be  far  more  immodest  to  attempt. 
You  act,  my  dear  Colet,  in  this  matter  as  wisely  as  they  who  (as 
Plautus  says)  '  demand  water  from  a  rock.'  With  what  face 
can  I  teach  what  I  myself  have  not  learned?  How  shall  I 
kindle  the  chilled  warmth  of  others  while  I  am  altogether 
trembling  and  shivering  myself?  .  .  . 

"  But  you  say  you  expected  this  of  me,  and  now  you  com- 
plain that  you  were  mistaken.  You  should  rather  blame  your- 
self than  me  for  this.  For  I  have  not  deceived  you.  I  have 
neither  promised  nor  held  out  any  prospect  of  any  such  thing. 
But  you  have  deceived  yourself  in  not  beheving  me  when  I  told 
you  truly  what  I  meant  to  do. 

"  Nor  indeed  did  I  come  here  to  teach  poetry  and  rhetoric, 
for  these  ceased  to  be  pleasant  to  me  when  they  ceased  to  be 
necessary.  I  refuse  the  one  task  because  it  does  not  come  up  to 
my  purpose,  the  other  because  it  is  beyond  my  strength.  You 
unjustly  blame  me  in  the  one  case,  my  dear  Colet,  because  I  never 
intended  to  follow  the  profession  of  what  are  called  secular 
studies.  As  to  the  other,  you  exhort  me  in  vain,  as  I  know 
myself  to  be  too  unfit  for  it.  But  even  though  I  were  most  fit, 
still  it  must  not  be.     For  soon  I  must  return  to  Paris. 

"  In  the  meantime,  whilst  I  am  detained  here,  partly  by  the 
winter,  and  partly  because  departure  from  England  is  forbidden, 
owing  to  the  flight  of  some  duke,^  I  have  betaken  myself  to  this 
famous  university  that  I  might  rather  spend  two  or  three  months 
with  men  of  your  class  than  with  those  be-chained  courtiers. 

"  Be  it,  indeed,  far  from  me  to  oppose  your  glorious  and  sacred 
labours.  On  the  contrary,  I  will  promise  (since  not  fitted  as 
yet  to  be  a  coadjutor)  sedulously  to  encourage  and  further  them. 
For  the  rest,  whenever  I  feel  that  I  have  the  requisite  firmness 
and  strength  I  will  join  you,  and,  by  your  side,  and  in  theological 

1  Probably  De  la  Pole,  See  Mr.  Gairdner's  Letters  and  Papers,  etc.,  of 
Richard  III.  and  Henry  VII.,  vol.  i.  p.  129,  and  vol.  ii.  preface,  p.  xl; 
and  appendix,  p.  377;  where  Mr.  Gairdner  mentions  under  date  Aug.  20, 
14  Henry  VII.  (1499)  a  "  Proclamation,  against  leaving  the  kingdom  with- 
out license,"  and  adds,  "  N.B.  clearly  in  consequence  of  the  flight  of 
Edmund  De  la  Pole."  If  this  prohibition  extended  through  December, 
it  fixes  the  date  of  this  letter  as  written  in  the  winter  of  1499-1500. 


isooj  Erasmus  Leaves  Oxford  8i 

teaching,  I  will  zealously  engage,  if  not  in  successful  at  least  in 
earnest  labour.  In  the  meantime,  nothing  could  be  more  delight- 
ful to  me  than  that  we  should  go  on  as  we  have  begun,  whether 
daily  by  word  of  mouth,  or  by  letter,  discussing  the  meaning  of 
Holy  Scripture. 

"  Vale,  mi  Colete. 
"  Oxford:  at  the  College  of  the  Canons  of  the 

"  Order  of  St.  Augustine,  commonly  called 

"  the  College  of  St.  Mary."  i 

VII.  ERASMUS  LEAVES  OXFORD  AND  ENGLAND  (1500) 

Erasmus  took  leave  of  Colet,  and  left  Oxford  early  in  January 
1500. 

He  proceeded  to  Greenwich,  to  the  country-seat  of  Lord 
and  Lady  Mount  joy;  for  his  patron  had,  apparently,  since  his 
arrival  in  England,  married  a  wife. 

While  he  was  resting  under  this  hospitable  roof,  Thomas 
More  came  down  to  pay  him  a  farewell  visit.  He  brought  with 
him  another  young  lawyer  named  Arnold — the  son  of  Arnold 
the  Merchant,  a  man  well  known  in  London,  and  living  in  one 
of  the  houses  built  upon  the  arches  of  London  Bridge. 

More,  whose  love  of  fun  never  slept,  persuaded  Erasmus, 
by  way  of  something  to  do,  to  take  a  walk  with  himself  and  his 
friend  to  a  neighbouring  village. 

He  took  them  to  call  at  a  house  of  rather  imposing  appearance. 
As  they  entered  the  hall,  Erasmus  was  struck  with  the  style  of  it; 
it  rivalled  even  that  of  the  mansion  of  his  noble  patron.  It  was 
in  fact  the  royal  nursery,  where  all  the  children  of  Henry  VII., 
except  Arthur  the  Prince  of  Wales,  were  living  under  the  care  of 
their  tutor.  In  the  middle  of  the  group  was  Prince  Henry 
(afterwards  Henry  VIII.),  then  a  boy  of  nine  years  old.  To  his 
right  stood  the  Princess  Margaret,  who  afterwards  was  married 
to  the  King  of  Scotland.  On  the  left  was  the  Princess  Maria,  a 
mere  child  at  play.  The  nurse  held  in  her  arms  the  Prince 
Edmund,  a  baby  about  ten  months  old.^ 

More  and  Arnold  at  once  accosted  Prince  Henry,  and  presented 

1  Eras.  Op.  v.  p.  1263.  This  letter  is  generally  found  prefixed  to  the 
various  editions  of  the  Disputatiuncula  de  Tcsdto  Chrish.  And  this  is 
often  appended  to  editions  of  the  Enchiridion. 

*  The  fact  that  Erasmus  saw  Prince  Edmund  fixes  the  date  of  his  depar- 
ture from  England  to  1500,  instead  of  1499.  He  left  England  Jan.  27, 
and  it  could  not  be  in  1499,  for  Prince  Edmund  was  not  born  till  Feb.  21,, 
1499. 


82  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1500 

him  with  some  verses,  or  other  literary  offering.  Erasmus, 
having  brought  nothing  of  the  kind  with  him,  felt  awkward, 
and  could  only  promise  to  prove  his  courtesy  to  the  Prince  in  the 
same  way  on  some  future  occasion.  They  were  invited  to  sit 
down  to  table,  and  during  the  meal  the  prince  sent  a  note  to 
Erasmus  to  remind  him  of  his  promise.  The  result  was  that 
More  received  a  merited  scolding  from  Erasmus,  for  having 
led  him  blindfold  into  the  trap;  and  Erasmus,  after  parting 
with  More,  had  to  devote  three  of  the  few  remaining  days  of 
his  stay  in  England  to  the  composition  of  Latin  verses  in  honour 
of  England,  Henry  VII.  and  the  royal  children.  He  was  in 
good  humour  with  England.  He  had  been  treated  with  a 
kindness  which  he  never  could  forget;  and  he  was  leaving  Eng- 
land with  a  purse  full  of  golden  crowns,  generously  provided 
by  his  English  friends  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his  long-wished- 
for  visit  to  Italy.  Under  these  circumstances  it  was  not  sur- 
prising if  his  verses  should  be  laudatory. 

By  the  27th  January  he  was  off  to  Dover,  to  catch  the  boat 
for  Boulogne. 

So  the  three  friends  were  scattered.  Each  had  evidently  a 
separate  path  of  his  own.  Their  natures  and  natural  gifts  were, 
indeed,  singularly  different.  They  had  been  brought  into  con- 
tact for  one  short  year,  as  it  were  by  chance,  and  now  again 
their  spheres  of  life  seemed  likely  to  lie  wide  apart. 

How  could  it  be  otherwise?  Even  Colet,  who  had  longed 
that  his  friendship  for  Erasmus  might  ripen  into  the  fellowship 
of  fellow-work,  could  not  hope  against  hope.  The  chances 
that  his  dream  might  yet  be  realised,  seemed  slight  indeed. 
"  Whenever  I  feel  that  I  have  the  requisite  firmness  and  strength, 
I  will  join  you !  "  So  Erasmus  had  promised.  But  Colet  might 
well  doubtfully  ask  himself—"  When  will  that  be?  " 


isoo-s]  Colet,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  83 


CHAPTER  IV 

I.   COLET  MADE   DOCTOR  AND   DEAN   OF   ST.   PAUL's  (15OO-5) 

CoLET,  left  alone  to  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  his  way  at  Oxford^ 
worked  steadily  at  his  post.  It  mattered  little  to  him  that  for 
years  he  toiled  on  without  any  official  recognition  on  the  part 
of  the  University  authorities  of  the  value  of  his  work.  What  if 
a  Doctor's  degree  had  never  during  these  years  been  conferred 
upon  him?  The  want  of  it  had  never  stopped  his  teaching. 
Its  possession  would  have  been  to  him  no  triumph. 

That  young  theological  students  were  beginning  more  and 
more  to  study  the  Scriptures  instead  of  the  Schoolmen — for 
this  he  cared  far  more.  For  this  he  was  casting  his  bread  upon 
the  waters,  in  full  faith  that,  whether  he  might  live  to  see  it  or 
not,  it  would  return  after  many  days.  And  in  truth — known 
or  unknown  to  Colet — young  Tyndale,  and  such  as  he,  yet  in 
their  teens,  were  already  poring  over  the  Scriptures  at  Oxford.^ 
The  leaven,  silently  but  surely,  was  leavening  the  surrounding 
mass.  But  Colet  probably  did  not  see  much  of  the  secret  results 
of  his  work.  That  it  was  his  duty  to  do  it  was  reason  enough 
for  his  doing  it;  that  it  bore  at  least  some  visible  fruit  was  suffi- 
cient encouragement  to  work  on  with  good  heart. 

So  the  years  went  by;  and  as  often  as  each  term  came  round, 
Colet  was  ready  with  his  gratuitous  course  of  lectures  on  one 
or  another  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles .^ 

It  happened,  that,  in  1504,  Robert  Sherborn,  Dean  of  St. 
Paul's,  was  nominated,  being  then  in  Rome  on  an  embassy,  to 

^ "  He  [Tyndale]  was  born  (about  1484)  about  the  borders  of  Wales, 
and  brought  up  from  a  child  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  where  he,  by  long 
continuance,  grew  and  increased  as  well  in  the  knowledge  of  tongues  and 
other  liberal  arts,  as  specially  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  where- 
unto  his  mind  was  singularly  addicted;  insomuch  that  he,  lying  there  in 
Magdalen  Hall,  read  privii>^  to  certain  students  and  fellows  of  Magdalen 
College,  some  parcel  of  divinity,  instructing  them  in  the  knowledge  and 
truth  of  the  Scriptures." — Quoted  from  Foxe  in  the  biographical  notice  of 
William  Tyndale,  prefixed  to  his  Doctrinal  Treatises,  p.  xiv,  Parker 
Society,  1848.  Magdalen  College  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  college  in 
which  Colet  resided  at  Oxford;  as,  according  to  Wood,  some  of  the  name 
of  Colet  are  mentioned  in  the  records,  though  not  John  Colet  himself. 

' "  How  many  years  did  he  (Colet),  following  the  example  of  St.  Paul» 
teach  the  people  without  reward!'* — Eras.  Epist.  cccclxxxi.  Eras,  Op.  iii. 
p.  53^,  E. 


J 


84  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1500 

the  vacant  see  of  St.  David's.  It  was  probably  at  the  same  time  ^  ■ 
that  Colet  was  called  to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  vacant  \ 
deanery,  though,  as  Sherbom  was  not  formally  installed  in  his  ; 
bishopric  till  April  1505,  Colet  did  not  receive  the  temporalities  i 
of  his  deanery  till  May  in  the  same  year.  i 

Colet  is  said  to  have  owed  this  advancement  to  the  patronage  i 
of  King  Henry  VII.  The  title  of  Doctor  was  at  length  conferred  | 
upon  him,  preparatory  to  his  acceptance  of  this  preferment,  and  J 
it  would  appear  as  an  honorary  mark  of  distinction.  i 

It  was  to  the  work,  writes  Erasmus,  and  not  to  the  dignity  i 
of  the  deanery,  that  Colet  was  called.  To  restore  the  relaxed  : 
discipline  of  the  College — to  preach  sermons  from  Scripture  in  ; 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral  as  he  had  done  at  Oxford — to  secure  per-  ; 
manently  that  such  sermons  should  be  regularly  preached —  j 
this  was  his  first  work.  \ 

By  his  remove  from  Oxford  to  St.  Paul's  the  field  of  his  in-  ' 
fiuence  was  changed,  and  in  some  respects  greatly  widened.  | 
His  work  now  told  directly  upon  the  people  at  large.  The  chief  ! 
citizens  of  London,  and  even  stray  courtiers,  now  and  then,  ' 
heard  the  plain  facts  of  Christian  truth,  instead  of  the  subtleties  i 
of  the  Schoolmen,  earnestly  preached  from  the  pulpit  of  St.  > 
Paul's  by  the  son  of  an  ex-lord  mayor  of  London.  The  citizens  ' 
found  too,  in  the  new  Dean,  a  man  whose  manner  of  life  bore  ! 
out  the  lessons  of  his  pulpit.  < 

He  retained  as  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  the  same  simplicity  of  . 
character  and  earnest  devotion  to  his  work  for  which  he  had  i 
been  so  conspicuous  at  Oxford.  As  he  had  not  sought  ecclesi-  i 
astical  preferment,  so  he  was  not  puffed  up  by  it.  Instead  of  | 
assuming  the  purple  vestments  which  were  customary,  he  still  ! 
wore  his  plain  black  robe.  The  same  simple  woollen  garment  i 
served  him  all  the  year  round,  save  that  in  winter  he  had  it  lined  ! 
with  fur.  The  revenues  of  his  deanery  were  sufficient  to  defray  i 
his  ordinary  household  expenses,  and  left  him  his  private  income  ; 
free.  He  gave  it  away,  instead  of  spending  it  upon  himself.  ■ 
The  rich  living  of  Stepney,  which,  in  conformity  with  the  custom  i 
of  the  times,  he  might  well  have  retained  along  with  his  other  - 
preferment,  he  resigned  at  once  into  other  hands  on  his  removal  ; 
to  St.  Paul's.^  i 

*  In  Colet's  epitaph  it  is  stated  "  administravit  i6;  "  as  he  died  in  1519,  ' 
this  will  bring  the  commencement  of  his  administration  to  1504,  at  latest.  , 
See  also  the  note  in  the  Appendix  on  Colet's  preferments. 

"  Walter  Stone,  LL.D.,  was  admitted  to  the  vicarage  of  Stepney,  void  - 
by  the  resignation  of  D.  Colet,  Sept.  21,  1505. — Kennett's  MSS.  vol.  xliv.  I 
f.  234  b  (Lansdowne,  978).  He  seems  to  have  retained  his  rectory  of  ! 
DenjTigton.  ; 


\i505]  Colet  in  London  85 

It  would  seem  too  that  he  shone  by  contrast  with  his  pre- 
decessor, whose  lavish  good  cheer  had  been  such  as  to  fill  his 
table  with  jovial  guests,  and  sometimes  to  pass  the  bounds  of 
moderation. 

There  was  no  chance  of  this  with  Colet.  His  own  habits  were 
severely  frugal.  For  years  he  abstained  from  suppers,  and  there 
were  no  nightly  revels  in  his  house.  His  table  was  neatly  spread, 
but  neither  costly  nor  excessive.  After  grace,  he  would  have  a 
chapter  read  from  one  of  St.  Paul's  Epistles  or  the  Proverbs  of 
Solomon,  and  then  contrive  to  engage  his  guests  in  serious  table- 
talk,  drawing  out  the  unlearned,  as  well  as  the  learned,  and 
changing  the  topics  of  conversation  with  great  tact  and  skill. 
Thus,  when  the  citizens  dined  at  his  table,  they  soon  found,  as 
his  Oxford  friends  had  found  at  their  public  dinners,  that,  with- 
out being  tedious  or  overbearing,  somehow  or  other  he  contrived 
so  to  exert  his  influence  as  to  send  his  guests  away  better  than 
they  came. 

Moreover,  Colet  soon  gathered  around  him  here  in  London, 
as  he  had  done  at  Oxford,  an  inner  circle  of  personal  friends.^ 
These  were  wont  often  to  meet  at  his  table  and  to  talk  on  late 
into  the  night,  conversing  sometimes  upon  literary  topics,  and 
sometimes  speaking  together  of  that  invisible  Prince  whom  Colet 
was  as  loyally  serving  now  in  the  midst  of  honour  and  prefer- 
ment as  he  had  done  in  an  humbler  sphere.  Colet's  loyalty  to 
Him  seemed  indeed  to  have  been  deepened  rather  than  diminished 
by  contact  with  the  outer  world.  The  place  which  St.  Paul's 
character  and  writings  had  once  occupied  in  his  thoughts  and 
teaching,  was  now  filled  by  the  character  and  words  of  St.  Paul's 
Master  and  his.  He  never  travelled,  says  Erasmus,  without 
reading  some  book  or  conversing  of  Christ.  He  had  arranged 
the  sayings  of  Christ  in  groups,  to  assist  the  memory,  and  with 
the  intention  of  writing  a  book  on  them.  His  sermons,  too,  in 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral  bore  witness  to  the  engrossing  object  of  his 
thoughts.  It  was  now  no  longer  St.  Paul's  Epistles  but  the 
"  Gospel  History,"  the  "  Apostles'  Creed,"  the  "  Lord's  Prayer," 
which  the  Dean  was  expounding  to  the  people.  And  highly  as 
he  had  held,  and  still  held,  in  honour  the  apostolic  writings,  yet, 
as  already  mentioned,  they  seemed  to  him  to  shrink,  as  it  were, 
into  nothing,  compared  with  the  wonderful  majesty  of  Christ 
himself. 

The  same  method  of  teaching  which  he  had  applied  at  Oxford 

^  Grocyn  and  Linacre  had  also  removed  to  London.  More  was  already 
there. 


r 


1 

86  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1505  • 

1 

to  the  writings  of  St.  Paul  he  now  applied  in  his  cathedral  \ 
sermons  in  treating  of  these  still  higher  subjects.  For  he  did  j 
not,  we  are  told,  take  an  isolated  text  and  preach  a  detached  j 
discourse  upon  it,  but  went  continuously  through  whatever  he  ] 
was  expounding  from  beginning  to  end  in  a  course  of  sermons,  j 
Thus  these  cathedral  discourses  of  Colet's  were  continuous  ; 
expositions  of  the  facts  of  the  Saviour's  Hfe  and  teaching,  as  I 
recorded  by  the  EvangeHsts,  or  embodied  in  that  simple  creed  I 
which  in  Colet's  view  contained  the  sum  of  Christian  theology.  ■ 
And  thus  was  he  practically  illustrating,  by  his  own  public  j 
example  in  these  sermons,  his  advice  to  theological  students,  to  ! 
"  keep  to  the  Bible  and  the  Apostles'  Creed,  letting  divines,  if  i 
they  like,  dispute  about  the  rest." 

i 

II.  MORE  CALLED  TO  THE  BAR — IN  PARLIAMENT — OFFENDS   J 
HENRY  VII. — THE  CONSEQUENCES  (1500-4)  j 

After  the  departure  of  Erasmus,  More  worked  on  diligently  at  i 
his  legal  studies  at  Lincoln's  Inn.  A  few  more  terms  and  he  i 
received  the  reward  of  his  industry  in  his  call  to  the  bar.  j 

During  the  years  devoted  to  his  legal  curriculum,  he  had  been  .! 
wholly  absorbed  in  his  law  books.  ' 

Closely  watched  by  his  father,  and  purposely  kept  with  a  ; 
stinted  allowance,  as  at  Oxford,  so  that  "  his  whole  mind  might  ; 
be  set  on  his  book,"  the  law  student  had  found  little  time  or  \ 
opportunity  for  other  studies.  But  being  now  duly  called  to  the  ' 
bar,  and  thus  freed  from  the  restraints  of  student  life,  his  mind  ; 
naturally  reverted  to  old  channels  of  thought.  Grocyn  and  ■ 
Linacre  in  the  meantime  had  left  Oxford  and  become  near  ; 
neighbours  of  his  in  London.  Thus  the  old  Oxford  circle  \ 
partially  formed  itself  again,  and  with  the  renewal  of  old  inti-  ; 
macies  returned,  if  ever  lost,  the  love  of  old  studies.  For  no  i 
sooner  was  More  called  to  the  bar  than  he  commenced  his  maiden  ! 
lectures  in  the  church  of  St.  Lawrence,^  in  the  Old  Jewry,  and  i 
chose  for  a  subject  the  great  work  of  St.  Augustine,  De  Civitate  \ 
Dei.  \ 

His  object,  we  are  told,  in  these  lectures  was  not  to  expound  ' 
the  theological  creed  of  the  Bishop  of  Hippo,  but  the  philo-  ! 
sophical  and  historical^  arguments  contained  in  those  first  few  ■ 
books  in  which  Augustine  had  so  forcibly  traced  the  connection  ; 


^Grocyn  was  apparently  rector  of  this  parish  up  to  15 17,  when  he 
vacated  it. — Wood's  Ath.  Oxon,  p.  32. 
*  Stapleton,  p.  160, 


I500-4]               More  in  Parliament               .     87  I 

'  1 

between  the  history  of  Rome  and  the  character  and  religion  of  \ 

the  Romans,  attributing  the  former  glory  of  the  great  Roman  '\ 

Commonwealth  to  the  valour  and  virtue  of  the  old  Romans;  I 

tracing  the  recent  ruin  of  the  empire,  ending  in  the  sack  of  Rome  | 

by  Alaric,  to  the  effeminacy  and  profligacy  of  the  modern  : 

Romans;    defending  Christianity  from  the  charge  of  having  '■ 

undermined  the  empire,  and  pointing  out  that  if  it  had  been  \ 

universally  adopted  by  rulers  and  people,  and  carried  out  into  \ 

practice  in  their  lives,  the  old  Pagan  empire  might  have  become  1 

a  truly  Christian  empire  and  been  saved — those  books  which,  I 

starting  from  the  facts  of  the  recent  sack  of  Rome,  landed  the  '\ 

reader  at  last  in  a  discussion  of  the  philosophy  of  free-will  and  fate.  ' 

Roper  tells  us  that  the  young  lawyer's  readings  were  well  i 
received,  being  attended  not  only  by  Grocyn,  his  old  Greelc"**^ 
master,  but  also  by  "  all  the  chief  learned  of  the  city  of  London."^ 

More  was  indeed  rising  rapidly  in  public  notice  and  confidence.  \ 

He  was  appointed  a  reader  at  Furnival's  Inn  about  this  time,  ^ 

and  when  a  Parliament  was  called  in  the  spring  of  1503-4,  though  ; 

only  twenty-five,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  it.  I 

Sent  up  thus  to  enter  public  life  in  a  Parhament  of  which  the  i 

notorious  Dudley  was  the  speaker,  the  last  and  probably  the  most  • 

subservient  Parliament  of  a  king  who  now  in  his  latter  days  was  \ 
becoming  more  and  more  avaricious,  the  mettle  of  the  young 

member  was  soon  put  to  the  test,  and  bore  it  bravely.  •, 

At  the  last  Parliament  of  1496-7,  the  King,  in  prospect  of  a  1 
war  with  Scotland,  had  exacted  from  the  Commons  a  subsidy  i 
of  two-fifteenths,  and,  finding  they  had  submitted  to  this  so  ^ 
easily,  had,  even  before  the  close  of  the  session,  pressed  for  and 
obtained  the  omission  of  the  customary  clauses  in  the  bill,  releas-  ) 
ing  about  £12,000  of  the  gross  amount  in  relief  of  decayed  towns  | 
and  cities.    Now  all  was  peace.    The  war  with  Scotland  had  \ 
ended  in  the  marriage  of  the  Princess  Margaret,  whom  More  had  ] 
seen  in  the  royal  nursery  a  few  years  before,  to  the  King  of  Scots. 
But  by  feudal  right  the  King,  with  consent  of  Parliament,  could  ' 
claim  a  "  reasonable  aid  "  in  respect  of  this  marriage  of  the 
Princess  Royal,  in  addition  to  another  for  the  knighting  of  Prince  ; 
Arthur,  who,  however,  in  the  meantime,  had  died.    This  Parlia- 
ment of  1503-4  was  doubtless  called  chiefly  to  obtain  these  i 
"  reasonable  aids."     But  with  Dudley  as  speaker  the  King  { 
meant  to  get  more  than  his  strictly  feudal  rights.    Instead  of  the 
two  "  aids,"  he  put  in  a  claim  (so  Roper  was  informed  2)  for 
three-fifteenths!  i.e.  for  half  as  much  again  as  he  had  asked  i 
*  Roper,  Singer's  ed.  1822,  p.  5.                                   *  Roper,  p.  7.  ' 


88      •  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1504 

for  to  defray  the  cost  of  the  Scottish  war.  And  Dudley's  flock 
of  sheep  were  going  to  pass  this  bill  in  silence !  Already  it  had 
passed  two  readings,  when  "  at  the  last  debating  thereof,"  More, 
probably  the  youngest  member  of  the  House,  rose  from  his  seat 
"  and  made  such  arguments  and  reasons  there  against,"  that  the 
King's  demands  (says  Roper)  "  were  thereby  clean  overthrown." 
"  So  that "  (he  continues)  "  one  of  the  King's  Privy  Chamber, 
named  Maister  Tyler,^  being  present  thereat,  brought  word  to 
the  King,  out  of  the  Parliament  House,  that  a  beardless  boy  had 
disappointed  all  his  purpose." 

Instead  of  three-fifteenths,  which  would  have  realised  £113,000^ 
or  more,  the  Parliament  Rolls  bear  witness  that  the  King,  with 
royal  clemency  and  grace,  had  to  accept  a  paltry  £30,000,  being 
less  than  a  third  of  what  he  had  asked  for !  ^ 

No  wonder  that,  soon  after,  the  King  devised  a  quarrel  with 
More's  father  (who,  by  the  way,  was  one  of  the  commissioners 
for  the  collection  of  the  subsidy),*  threw  him  into  the  Tower,  and 
kept  him  there  till  he  had  paid  a  fine  of  £100.  No  wonder  that 
young  More  himself  was  compelled  at  once  to  retire  from  public 
life,  and  hide  himself  from  royal  displeasure  in  obscurity.^ 

1  Possibly,  "  our  trusty  and  right  well-beloved  knight  and  counseller** 
Sir  William  Tyler,  who  had  so  often  partaken  of  the  royal  bounty,  being 
made  "  Controller  of  Works,"  "  Messenger  of  Exchequer,"  "  Receiver  of 
certain  Lordships,"  etc.,  etc.  {see  Rot.  Pari.  vi.  341,  378  b,  404  b,  497  b), 
and  who  was  remembered  for  good  in  chap.  35  of  this  very  Parliament. 

*  A  fifteenth  of  the  three  estates  was  estimated  by  the  Venetian  am- 
bassador, in  1500,  to  produce  3^37,930. — See  Italian  Relation  of  England^ 
Camden  Soc.  p.  52.  The  amotmt  of  a  "  fifteenth  "  was  fixed  in  1334,  by 
8  Ed.  III.  Blackstone  (vol,  i.  p.  310)  states  that  the  amount  was  fixed  at 
about  £29,000.  This  was  probably  the  amount,  exclusive  of  the  quota 
derived  from  the  estates  of  the  clergy,  which  latter  was  estimated  at 
£12,000  by  the  Venetian  ambassador  in  1500.  This  being  added  would 
raise  Blackstone's  estimate  to  £41,000  in  all.  From  this,  however,  about 
£4000  was  always  excused  to  "  poor  towns,  cities,  etc.,"  so  that  the  nett 
actual  amount  would  be  about  £37,000  according  to  Blackstone,  which 
agrees  well  with  the  Venetian  estimate. 

»  In  lieu  of  two  reasonable  aids,  one  for  making  a  knight  of  Prince  Arthur 
deceased,  and  the  other  of  marriage  of  Princess  Margaret  to  the  King  of 
Scots,  and  also  great  expenses  in  wars,  the  Commons  grant  £40,000  less 
£10,000  remitted,  "  of  his  more  ample  grace  and  pity,  for  that  the  poraill  of 
his  comens  should  not  in  anywise  be  contributory  or  chargeable  to  any  part 
of  the  said  sum  of  £40,000."  The  £30,000  to  be  paid  by  the  shires  in  the 
sums  stated,  and  to  the  payment  every  person  to  be  liable  having  lands, 
etc.,  to  the  yearly  value  of  20s.  of  free  charter  lands,  or  of  26s.  M.  of  lands 
held  at  will,  or  any  person  having  goods  or  cattails  to  the  value  of  x  marks 
or  above,  not  accoimting  their  cattle  for  their  plough  nor  stuff  or  imple- 
ment of  household. 

*  John  More  was  one  of  the  commissioners  for  Herts. 

*  This  story  is  told  in  substantially  the  same  form  in  the  manuscript  life 
of  More  by  Harpsfield,  written  in  the  time  of  Queen  Mary,  and  dedicated 
to  William  Roper. — Harleian  MSS,  No.  6253,  fol.  4. 


1504]  More's  Ascetic  Tendencies  89 


III.   THOMAS  MORE  IN   SECLUSION   FROM   PUBLIC  LIFE  (1504-5) 

Compelled  to  seek  safety  in  seclusion,  More  shut  himself 
up  in  his  lodgings  near  the  Charterhouse  with  William  Lilly, 
another  old  Oxford  student,  a  contemporary  of  Colet's,  if  not  of 
More's,  at  Oxford,  who  having  spent  some  years  travelling  in 
the  East,  had  recently  returned  home  fresh  from  Italy.  More 
seems  to  have  shared  with  him  the  intention  of  becoming  a 
monk  or  a  priest.^ 

It  was  possibly  not  the  first  time  his  thoughts  had  turned  in 
this  direction;  but  he  had  hitherto  gone  cautiously  to  work, 
taking  no  vow,  determined  to  feel  his  way,  and  not  to  rush 
blindly  into  what  he  might  afterwards  repent  of. 

He  had  now  taken  to  wearing  an  "  inner  sharp  shirt  of  hair," 
and  to  sleeping  on  the  bare  boards  of  his  chamber,  with  a  log 
under  his  head  for  a  pillow,  and  was  otherwise  schooling,  by 
his  powerful  will,  his  quick  and  buoyant  nature  into  accordance 
with  the  strict  rules  of  the  Carthusian  brotherhood. ^ 

It  was  a  critical  moment  in  his  life.  Soon  after  his  father  had 
been  imprisoned  and  fined,  having  some  business  with  Fox, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  that  great  courtier  called  him  aside, 
pretending  to  be  his  friend,  and  promised  that  if  he  would  be 
ruled  by  him,  he  would  not  fail  to  restore  him  into  the  King's 
favour.  But  Fox  was  only  setting  a  trap  for  him,  from  which 
he  was  saved  by  a  friendly  hint  from  Whitford,^  the  bishop's 
chaplain.  This  man  told  More  that  his  master  would  not  stick 
to  agree  to  his  own  father's  death  to  serve  the  King's  turn,  and 
advised  him  to  keep  quite  aloof  from  the  King.  This  hint  was 
not  reassuring,  but  it  may  have  saved  More's  life. 

What  would  have  happened  to  him  had  he  been  left  alone 
with  misadvising  friends  to  give  hasty  vent  to  the  disappoint- 
ment which  thus  had  crushed  his  hopes  at  the  very  outset  of 
his  career — whether  the  cloister  would  have  received  him  as  it 
did  his  friend  Whitford  afterwards,  to  be  another  "  wretch  of 
Sion"  none  can  tell. 

^  Stapleton,  Tres  ThomcB,  ed,  1588,  p.  18,  ed.  1612,  p.  161.  See  also 
Roper,  pp.  5,  6. 

*  Stapleton  and  Roper,  ubi  supra. 

«  Richard  Whitford  himself,  retiring  soon  after  from  public  life,  entered 
the  monastery  called  "  Sion,"  near  Brentford  in  Middlesex,  and  wrote 
books,  in  which  he  styled  himself  "  tke  ^v^etch  of  Sion."  See  Roper,  p.  8, 
and  Knight's  Life  of  Erasmus,  p.  64. 


90  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1504! 

Happily  for  him  it  was  at  this  critical  moment  that  Colet  j 
came  up  to  London  to  assume  his  new  duties  at  St.  Paul's.  ; 
More  was  a  diligent  listener  to  his  sermons,  and  chose  him  as  his  j 
father  confessor.  Stapleton  has  preserved  a  letter  from  More  to  ] 
Colet/  which  throws  much  light  upon  the  relation  between  them,  j 
It  was  written  in  October  1504,  whilst  Colet,  after  preaching  j 
during  the  summer,  was  apparently  spending  his  long  vacation  j 
in  the  country.  It  shows  that,  under  Colet's  advice.  More  was  1 
not  altogether  living  the  life  of  a  recluse.  ] 

Colet  had  for  some  time  been  absent  from  his  pulpit  at  St.;  | 
Paul's.  As  More  was  one  day  walking  up  and  down  Westminster  ^ 
Hall,  waiting  while  other  people's  suits  were  being  tried,  hej 
chanced  to  meet  Colet's  servant.  Learning  from  him  that  his  \ 
master  had  not  yet  returned  to  town.  More  wrote  to  Colet  this  ; 
letter,  to  tell  him  how  much  he  missed  his  wonted  delightful] 
intercourse  with  him.  He  told  him  how  he  had  ever  prized  his  j 
most  wise  counsel;  how  by  his  most  delightful  fellowship  he] 
had  been  refreshed;  how  by  his  weighty  sermons  he  had  been| 
roused,  and  by  his  example  helped  on  his  way.  He  reminded  j 
him  how  fully  he  relied  upon  his  guidance — ^how  he  had  been] 
wont  to  hang  upon  his  very  beck  and  nod.  Under  his  protec-  ■ 
tion  he  had  felt  himself  gaining  strength,  now  without  it  he: 
was  flagging  and  undone.  He  acknowledged  that,  by  following  j 
Colet's  leading,  he  had  escaped  almost  from  the  very  jaws  of; 
hell;  but  now,  amid  all  the  temptations  of  city  life  and  the  noisy  i 
wrangling  of  the  law  courts,  he  felt  himself  losing  ground  with-  { 
out  his  help.  No  doubt  the  country  might  be  much  more; 
pleasant  to  Colet  than  the  city,  but  the  city,  with  all  its  vice,  \ 
and  follies,  and  temptations,  had  far  more  need  of  his  skill; 
than  simple  country  folk!  "  There  sometimes  come,  indeed,"  ■ 
he  added,  "  into  the  pulpit  of  St.  Paul's,  men  who  promise  toj 
heal  the  diseases  of  the  people.  But,  though  they  seem  to  have  1 
preached  plausibly  enough,  their  lives  so  jar  with  their  words 
that  they  stir  up  men's  wounds,  rather  than  heal  them."  But, 
he  said,  his  fellow-citizens  had  confidence  in  Colet,  and  all  longed 
for  his  return.  He  urged  him,  therefore,  to  return  speedily,  for 
their  sake  and  for  his,  reminding  Colet  again  that  he  had  sub- 
mitted himself  in  all  things  to  his  guidance.  "  Meanwhile," 
he  concluded,  "  I  shall  spend  my  time  with  Grocyn,  Linacre, 
and  Lilly;  the  first,  as  you  know,  is  the  director  of  my  life  in 
your  absence;  the  second,  the  master  of  my  studies;  the  third, 

I 
1  Stapleton,  ed.  1588,  p.  20,  ed.  1612,  p.  163.  | 


I504]  More's  Studies  91 

my  most  dear  companion.     Farewell,  and,  as  you  do,  ever 
love  me." 

"  London:  10  Calend.  Novembris  "  [1504].^ 

Smrounded^a^Ji^^ 
soon" began  to  devote  his  leisure  to  his  old  studies.  Lilly,  too, 
had  returned  home  well  versed  in  Greek.  He  had  spent  some 
years  in  the  island  of  Rhodes,  to  perfect  his  knowledge  of  it. 
Naturally  enough,  therefore,  the  two  friends  busied  themselves 
in  jointly  translating  Greek  epigrams;  and  as,  with  increasing 
zeal,  they  yielded  to  the  charms  of  the  new  learning,  it  is  not 
surprising  if  the  fascinations  of  monastic  life  began  to  lose  their 
hold  upon  their  minds.  The  result  was  that  More  was  saved 
from  the  false  step  he  once  had  contemplated. 

He  had,  it  would  seem,  seen  enough  of  the  evil  side  of  the 
"  religious  life  "  to  know  that  in  reality  it  did  not  offer  that  calm 
retreat  from  the  world  which  in  theory  it  ought  to  have  done. 
He  had  cautiously  abstained  from  rushing  into  vows  before  he 
had  learned  well  what  they  meant;  and  his  experience  of  ascetic 
practices  had  far  too  ruthlessly  destroyed  any  pleasant  pictures 
of  monastic  life  in  which  he  may  have  indulged  at  first,  to  admit 
of  his  ever  becoming  a  Carthusian  monk. 

Still  we  may  not  doubt  that,  in  truth,  he  had  a  real  and  natural 
yearning  for  the  pure  ideal  of  cloister  holiness.  Early  disap- 
pointed love  possibly,  added  to  the  rude  shipwreck  made  of 
his  worldly  fortunes  on  the  rock  of  royal  displeasure,  had,  we 
may  well  believe,  effectually  taught  him  the  lesson  not  to  trust 
in  those  "  gay  golden  dreams  "  of  worldly  greatness,  from  which, 
he  was  often  wont  to  say,  "  we  cannot  help  awaking  when  we 
die;  "  and  even  the  penances  and  scourgings  inflicted  by  way  of 
preparatory  discipline  upon  his  "  wanton  flesh,"  though  soon 
proved  to  be  of  no  great  efficacy,  were  not  the  less  without  some 
deep  root  in  his  nature;   else  why  should  he  wear  secretly  his 

^  That  this  letter  was  written  in  1504  is  evident.  First,  it  cannot  well 
have  been  written  before  Colet  had  commenced  his  labours  at  St.  Paul's; 
secondly,  it  cannot  have  been  written  in  Oct.  1505,  because  it  speaks  of 
Colet  as  still  holding  the  living  of  Stepney,  which  he  resigned  Sept.  21, 
1505.  Also  the  whole  drift  of  it  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  More  was 
xmmarried  when  he  wrote  it.  And  he  married  in  1505,  according  to  the 
register  on  the  Burford  picture,  which,  the  correct  date  of  More's  birth 
having  been  found  and  from  it  the  true  date  of  Holbein's  sketch,  seems 
to  be  amply  confirmed  by  the  age  there  given  of  More's  eldest  daughter, 
^  Margaret  Roper.  She  is  stated  to  be  twenty-two  on  the  sketch  made  in 
1528,  and  so  was  probably  bom  in  1506. 


02  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1505  I 

i 

whole  life  long  the  sharp  shirt  of  hair  which  we  hear  about  at  { 
lastpi  j 

So  much  as  this  must  be  conceded  to  More's  Catholic  bio-  \ 
graphers,  who  naturally  incline  to  make  the  most  of  this  ascetic  i 
phase  of  his  life.^  \ 

But  that,  on  the  other  hand,  he  did  turn  in  disgust  from  the  [ 
impurity  of  the  cloister  to  the  better  chances  which,  he  thought,  ' 
the  world  offered  of  living  a  chaste  and  useful  life,  we  know  j 
from  Erasmus;  and  this  his  Catholic  biographers  have,  in  their  ■ 
turn,  acknowledged.^  ] 

IV.  MORE  STUDIES  PICO'S  LIFE  AND  WORKS.      HIS  MARRIAGE  (1505)   j 

More  appears  to  have  been  influenced  in  the  course  he  had  ; 

taken,  mainly  by  two  things: — first,  a  sort  of  hero-worship  for  ' 
the  great  Italian,  Pico  della  Mirandola;    and,  secondly,  his 

continued  reverence  for  Colet.  i 

The  Lije  of  Pico,  with  divers  Epistles  and  other  Works  of  his,  ! 

had  come  into  More's  hands.  Very  probably  Lilly  may  have  | 
brought  them  home  with  him  amongst  his  Italian  spoils.     More 

had  taken  the  pains  to  translate  them  into  English.    He  had  doubt-  ' 

less  heard  all  about  Pico's  outward  Hfe  from  those  of  his  friends  j 

who  had  known  him  personally  when  in  Italy.    But  here  was  i 

the  record  of  Pico's  inner  history,  for  the  most  part  in  his  own  ; 

words;   and  reading  this  in  More's  translation,  it  is  not  hard  ; 

to  see  how  strong  an  influence  it  may  have  exercised  upon  him.  ! 

It  told  how,  suddenly  checked,  as  More  himself  had  been,  in  a  | 

career  of  worldly  honour  and  ambition,  the  proud  vaunter  of  ■ 

universal  knowledge  had  been  transformed  into  the  humble  \ 
student  of  the  Bible;   how  he  had  learned  to  abhor  scholastic 

disputations,  of  which  he  had  been  so  great  a  master,  and  to  \ 

search  for  truth  instead  of  fame.    It  told  how,  "  giving  no  i 

great  force  to  outward  observances,"  "  he  cleaved  to  God  in  \ 

very  fervent  love,"  so  that,  "  on  a  time  as  he  walked  with  his  \ 

nephew  in  an  orchard  at  Ferrara,  in  talking  of  the  love  of  Christ,  j 

^  From  whence  [the  Tower],  the  "  day  before  he  suffered,  he  sent  Ms  y 
shirt  of  hair,  not  willing  to  have  it  seen,  to  my  wife,  his  dearly  beloved  \ 
daughter." — Roper,  p.  91.  v 

2  Walter's  Life  of  More,  London,  1840,  pp.  7,  8.  Cresacre  More's  Life  \ 
of  More,  pp.  24-26.  i   i 

^  Erasmus  to  Hutten:  Eras.  Op.  iii.  p.  75,  c.  Stapleton,  1612  ed.  pp.  i6r,  j 
162.  Cresacre  More's  Life  of  More,  pp.  25,  26.  Even  Walter  allows  that  \ 
his  "  finding  that  at  that  time  religious  orders  in  England  had  somewhat  j 
degenerated  from  their  ancient  strictness  and  fervour  of  spirit,"  was  the  "^ 
cause  of  his  "  altering  his  mind." — Walter's  Life  of  More,  p.  8.  ) 


I505]  More  Studies  Pico  93 

he  told  him  of  his  secret  purpose  to  give  away  his  goods  to  the 
poor,  and  fencing  himself  with  the  crucifix,  barefoot,  walking 
about  the  world,  in  every  town  and  castle  to  preach  of  Christ." 
It  told  how  he,  too,  "  scourged  his  own  flesh  in  remembrance  of 
the  passion  and  death  that  Christ  suffered  for  our  sake; "  and 
urged  others  also  ever  to  bear  in  mind  two  things,  "  that  the 
Son  of  God  died  for  thee,  and  that  thou  thyself  shalt  die  shortly;" 
and  how,  finally,  in  spite  of  the  urgent  warnings  of  the  great 
Savonarola,  he  remained  a  layman  to  the  end,  and  in  the  midst 
of  indefatigable  study  of  the  Oriental  languages,  and,  above  all, 
the  Scriptures,  through  their  means,  died  at  the  early  age  of 
thirty-five,  leaving  the  world  to  wonder  at  his  genius,  and 
Savonarola  to  preach  a  sermon  on  his  death  .^ 

And  turning  from  the  Life  of  Pico  to  his  Works,  and  reading 
these  in  More's  translation,  they  present  to  the  mind  a  type  of 
Christianity,  so  opposite  to  the  ceremonial  and  external  religion 
of  the  monks,  that  one  may  well  cease  to  wonder  that  More, 
having  caught  the  spirit  of  Pico's  religion,  could  no  longer  enter- 
tain any  notion  of  becoming  a  Carthusian  brother. 

It  will  be  worth  while  to  examine  carefully  what  these  works 
of  Pico's  were. 

The  first  is  a  letter  from  Pico  to  his  nephew — a  letter  of  advice 
to  a  young  man  somewhat  in  More's  position,  longing  to  live  to 
some  "  virtuous  purpose,"  but  finding  it  hard  to  stem  the  tide  of 
evil  around  him.  To  encourage  his  nephew,  he  speaks  of  the 
"  great  peace  and  felicity  it  is  to  the  mind  when  a  man  hath 
nothing  that  grudgeth  his  conscience,  nor  is  appalled  with  the 
secret  touch  of  any  privy  crime."  ..."  Doubtest  thou,  my  son, 
whether  the  minds  of  wicked  men  be  vexed  or  not  with  continual 
thought  and  torment?  .  .  .  The  wicked  man's  heart  is  like  the 
stormy  sea,  that  may  not  rest.  There  is  to  him  nothing  sure, 
nothing  peaceable,  but  all  things  fearful,  all  things  sorrowful,  all 
things  deadly.  Shall  we,  then,  envy  these  men?  Shall  we 
follow  them,  forgetting  our  own  country — heaven,  and  our  own 
heavenly  Father — where  we  were  free-born?  Shall  we  wilfully 
make  ourselves  bondmen,  and  with  them,  wretched  living,  more 
wretchedly  die,  and  at  the  last  most  wretchedly  in  everlasting 
fire  be  punished  ?  " 

Having  warned  his  nephew  against  wicked  companions,  Pico 
proceeds  to  make  evident  allusion  to  the  sceptical  tendencies  of 
Italian  society.     "  It  is  verily  a  great  madness  "  (he  says)  "  not 

^  Sir  Thomas  More's  Works,  pp.  1-34 ;  and  see  the  note  on  Pico's  religious 
history,  and  his  connection  with  Savonarola,  above,  p.  11. 


94  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1505 

to  believe  the  Gospel,  whose  truth  the  blood  of  martyrs  crieth, 
the  voice  of  Apostles  soundeth,  miracles  prove,  reason  confirmeih, 
the  world  testifieth,  the  elements  speak,  devils  confess ! "  ^ 
"  But,"  he  continues,  "  a  f ar  greater  madness  is  it,  if  thou  doubt 
not  but  that  the  Gospel  is  true,  to  live  then  as  though  thou 
doubtest  not  but  that  it  were  false." 

And  it  is  worth  notice,  that  the  perception  of  the  reasonable- 
ness of  Christianity,  and  its  harmony  with  the  laws  of  nature, 
breaks  out  again  a  little  further  on.  Pico  writes  to  his  nephew: 
"  Take  no  heed  what  thing  many  men  do,  but  [take  heed]  what 
thing  the  very  law  of  nature,  what  thing  very  reason,  what  thing 
our  Lord  himself  showeth  thee  to  be  done."" 

A  little  further  on  Pico  points  out  two  remedies,  or  aids, 
whereby  his  nephew  may  be  strengthened  in  his  course.  First, 
charity;  and  secondly,  prayer.  With  regard  to  the  first  he 
wrote: — "  Certainly  He  shall  not  hear  thee  when  thou  callest  on 
Him,  if  thou  hear  not  first  the  poor  man  when  he  calleth  upon 
thee.^^  With  regard  to  prayer,  he  wrote  thus : — "  When  I  stir  thee 
to  prayer,  I  stir  thee  not  to  the  prayer  that  standeth  in  many 
words,  but  to  that  prayer  which,  in  the  secret  chamber  of  the 
mind,  in  the  privy-closet  of  the  soul,  with  very  affect  speaketh 
unto  God,  and  in  the  most  lightsome  darkness  of  contemplation, 
not  only  presenteth  the  mind  to  the  Father,  but  also  uniteth  it 
with  Him  by  unspeakable  ways,  which  only  they  know  that  have 
assayed.  Nor  I  care  not  how  long  or  how  short  thy  prayer  be, 
but  how  effectual,  how  ardent.  .  .  .  Let  no  day  pass,  then,  but 
thou  once  at  the  leastwise  present  thyself  to  God  by  prayer,  and 
falling  down  before  Him  flat  to  the  ground,  with  an  humble 
affect  of  devout  mind,  not  from  the  extremity  of  thy  hps,  but 
out  of  the  inwardness  of  thine  heart,  cry  these  words  of  the 
prophet:  '  The  offences  of  my  youth,  and  mine  ignorances, 
remember  not,  good  Lord,  but  after  thy  goodness  remember  me.' 
What  thou  shalt  in  thy  prayer  ask  of  God,  both  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  prayeth  for  us  and  eke  thine  own  necessity,  shall  every 
hour  put  into  thy  mind,  and  also  what  thou  shalt  pray  for  thou 
shalt  find  matter  enough  in  the  reading  of  Holy  Scripture,  which 
that  thou  wouldst  now  (setting  poets,  fables,  and  trifles  aside) 
take  ever  in  thine  hand  I  heartily  pray  thee;  .  .  .  there  lieth  in 
them  a  certain  heavenly  strength  quick  and  effectual,  which  with 
marvellous  power  transformeth  and  changeth  the  readers'  mind 
into  the  love  of  God,  if  they  be  clean  and  lowly  entreated." 

*  Compare  this  with  the  line  of  argument  pursued  by  Marsilio  Ficino  in 
his  De  Religione  Christiana.     Vide  supra,  p.  6, 


I505]  Pico  della  Mirandola  95 

Lastly,  he  said  he  would  "  make  an  end  with  this  one  thing.  I 
warn  thee  (of  which  when  we  were  last  together  I  often  talked 
with  thee)  that  thou  never  forget  these  two  things;  that  both 
the  Son  of  God  died  for  thee,  and  that  thou  thyself  shalt  die 
shortly!  "1 

This,  then,  was  the  doctrine  which  Pico,  "  fencing  himself 
with  a  crucifix,  barefoot,  walking  about  the  world,  in  every  town 
and  castle,"  purposed  to  preach ! 

The  next  letter  is  a  reply  to  a  friend  of  his  who  had  urged 
him  to  leave  his  contemplative  and  studious  Ufe,  and  to  mix  in 
political  affairs,  in  which,  as  an  Italian  prince,  lay  his  natural 
sphere.  He  replied,  .that  his  desire  was  "  not  so  to  embrace 
Martha  as  utterly  to  forsake  Mary  " — to  "  love  them  and  use 
them  both,  as  well  study  as  worldly  occupation."  "  I  set  more  " 
(he  continued)  "  by  my  little  house,  my  study,  the  pleasure  of  my 
books,  the  rest  and  peace  of  my  mind,  than  by  all  your  king's 
palaces,  all  your  business,  all  your  glory,  all  the  advantage  that 
ye  hawke  after,  and  all  the  favour  of  the  court !  " 

Then  he  tells  his  friend  that  what  he  looks  to  do  is, "  to  give  out 
some  hooks  of  mine  to  the  common  profit,^'  and  that  he  is  mastering 
the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and  Arabic  languages. ^ 

Then  follows  another  letter  to  his  nephew,  who,  in  trying  to 
follov/  the  advice  given  in  his  first  letter,  finds  himself  slandered 
and  called  a  hypocrite  by  his  companions  at  court.  It  is  a  letter 
of  noble  encouragement  to  stand  his  ground,  and  to  heed  not  the 
scoffs  and  sneers  of  his  fellows. 

These  letters  are  followed  by  an  exposition  of  Psalm  xvi.,  in 
which  Pico  incidentally  uses  his  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew  text 
and  of  Eastern  customs.^ 

All  the  foregoing  are  in  prose;  after  them  come  More's  trans- 
lations of  some  of  Pico's  verses. 

The  first  is  entitled,  "  Twelve  rules,  partly  exciting  and  partly 
directing  a  man  in  spiritual  battle,"  and  reminds  one  of 
the  Enchiridion  of  Erasmus.  The  second  is  named,  "  The 
twelve  weapons  of  spiritual  battle."    The  striking  feature  in 

^  This  remarkable  letter  was  written,  "  Ferrariae,  15  May,  1492  "  (Pici 
Op.  p.  233),  scarcely  six  weeks  after  Pico's  visit  to  the  deathbed  of  Lorenzo 
de  Medici. 

'  This  letter  is  dated  in  More's  translation  M.cccclxxxxii.  from  Paris,  in 
mistake  for  M.cccclxxxvi.  from  Perugia.     See  Pici  Op.  p.  257. 

'  See  More's  Works,  p.  19,  in  loco,  v.  4  and  v.  6. 


96 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1505 


both  these  metrical  works  is  the  holding  up  of  Christ's  example 
as  an  incentive  to  duty  and  to  love.    Thus : — 

"  Consider,  when  thou  art  moved  to  be  wroth. 

He  who  that  was  God  and  of  all  men  the  best, 

Seeing  himself  scorned  and  scourged  both, 

And  as  a  thief  between  two  thieves  threst. 
With  aU  rebuke  and  shame ;  yet  from  his  breast 

Came  never  sign  of  wrath  or  of  disdain. 

But  patiently  endured  all  the  pain! " 

And  again_,  after  speaking  of  the  shortness  of  life — 

"  How  fast  it  runneth  on,  and  passen  shall 
As  doth  a  dream  or  shadow  on  a  wall," 

he  continues: — 

"  Think  on  the  very  lamentable  pain, 
Think  on  the  piteous  cross  of  woefiil  Christ, 

Think  on  his  blood,  beat  out  at  every  vein. 
Think  on  his  precious  heart  carved  in  twain: 
Think  how  for  thy  redemption  all  was  wrought. 
Let  him  not  lose,  what  he  so  dear  hath  bought." 

There  is  another  poem  in  which  the  feelings  of  a  lover  towards 
his  love  are  made  to  show  what  the  Christian's  feelings  ought 
to  be  to  Christ;  and  lastly,  there  is  a  solemn  and  beautiful 
"  Prayer  of  Picus  Mirandola  to  God/'  glowing  with  the  same 
adoration  of 

.  .  .  "that  mighty  love 

Which  able  was  thy  dreadful  majesty 

To  draw  down  into'  earth  from  heaven  above 

And  crucify  God,  that  we  poor  wretches,  we 

Should  from  our  filthy  sin  yclensed  be!  " 

and  the  same  earnest  longing 

"  That  when  the  journey  of  this  deadly  life 

My  silly  ghost  hath  finished,  and  thence 

Departen  must,"  .... 
"  He  may  Thee  find  .... 

In  thy  lordship,  not  as  a  lord,  but  rather 

As  a  very  tender,  loving  father!  " 

I  have  made  these  quotations,  and  thus  endeavoured  to  put 
the  reader  in  possession  of  the  contents  of  this  Httle  volume, 
which  More  in  his  seclusion  was  translating,  because  I  think  they 
throw  some  light  upon  the  current  in  which  his  thoughts  were 
moving,  and  because,  whilst  the  name  of  Pico  is  known  to  fame 
as  that  of  a  great  linguist  and  most  precocious  genius,  his 


1505]  More  and  the  Neo-Platonists  97 

enlightened  piety  and  the  extent  of  the  influence  of  his  heroic 
example  have  scarcely  been  appreciated. 

This  Httle  book,  indeed,  has  a  special  significance  in  relation 
to  the  history  of  the  Oxford  Reformers.  Whatever  doubt  may 
rest  upon  the  direct  connection  between  their  views  and  those  of 
Savonarola,  there  is  here  in  More's  translation  of  these  writings 
of  a  disciple  of  Savonarola,  another  mdirect  connection  between 
them  and  that  little  knot  of  earnest  Christian  men  in  Italy  of 
which  Savonarola  was  the  most  conspicuous. 

The  extracts  made  and  translated  by  More  from  Pico's 
writings  may  also  help  us  to  recognise  in  the  Neo-Platonic  philo- 
sophers of  Florence,  by  whose  writings  Colet  had  been  so  pro- 
founidiy  influenced,  a  vein  of  earnest  Christian  feeling  of  which  it 
may  be  that  we  know  too  little.  Like  their  predecessors  of  a 
thousand  years  before,  they  stood  between  the  old  world  and  the 
new.  They  were  the  men  who,  when  the  learning  of  the  old 
Pagan  world  was  restored  to  light,  and  backed  against  the 
dogmatic  creed  of  priest-ridden  degraded  Christendom,  built  a 
bridge,  as  it  were,  between  Christian  and  Pagan  thought.  That 
their  bridge  was  frail  and  insecure  it  may  be,  but,  to  a  great 
extent,  it  served  its  end.  A  passage  was  effected  by  it  from  the 
Pagan  to  the  Christian  shore.  Ficino,  the  representative  Neo- 
Platonist,  who,  as  has  been  seen,  had  aided  in  its  building,  had 
himself  passed  over  it.  Savonarola  too  had  crossed  it.  Pico 
had  crossed  it.  It  is  true  that  these  men  may,  to  some  extent, 
have  Platonised  Christianity  in  becoming  Christian;  but  it  will 
be  recognised  at  once  that  the  earnest  Christian  feeling  found  by 
More  in  Pico,  so  to  speak,  rose  far  above  his  Platonism. 

That  the  life  and  writings  of  such  a  man  should  have  awakened 
in  his  breast  something  of  hero-worship  is,  therefore,  not  surpris- 
ing. That  he  should  have  singled  out  these  passages,  and  taken 
the  trouble  to  translate  them,  is  some  proof  that  he  admired 
Pico's  practical  piety  more  than  his  Neo-Platonic  speculations; 
that  he  shared  with  Colet  those  yearnings  for  practical  Christian 
reform  with  which  Colet  had  returned  from  Italy  ten  years  before. 
That  a  few  years  after  this  translation  should  be  published  and 
issued  in  English  in  More's  name  was  further  proof  of  it.  For 
here  was  a  book  not  only  in  its  drift  and  spirit  boldly  taking 
Colet's  side  against  the  Schoolmen,  and  in  favour  of  the  study  of 
Scripture  and  the  Oriental  languages,  but  as  boldly  holding  up 
Savonarola  as  "  a  preacher,  as  well  in  cunning  as  in  holiness  of 
living,  most  famous," — "  a  holy  man  " — '*  a  man  of  God  "  ^ — in 
1  Sir  T.  More's  Wotks^  p.  9.  ;,,,■. 

D 


98 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1505 


the  teeth  of  the  fact  that  he  had  been  denounced  by  the  Pope  as  ' 
a  "  son  of  blasphemy  and  perdition,"  excommunicated,  tortured,  • 
and,  refusing  to  abjure,  hung  and  burned  as  a  heretic !  ^  \ 

And  if  the  fire  of  hero-worship  for  Pico  had  lit  up  something  j 
of  heroism  in  More's  heart — something  which  yearned  for  the  j 
battle  of  life,  and  not  for  the  rest  of  the  cloister — so  the  living  \ 
example  of  Colet  was  ready  to  feed  the  flame  into  strength  and  \ 
steadiness.  ] 

The  result  was  that,  in  1505,2  in  spite  of  early  disappointments,  ■ 
and,  it  is  said,  under  Colet' s  "  advice  and  direction,"  ^  More  \ 
married  Jane  Colt  of  New  Hall  in  Essex,  took  a  house  in  Bucklers-  j 
bury,  and  gave  up  for  ever  all  longings  for  monastic  life.  '; 

V.    HOW  IT   HAD   FARED   WITH  ERASMUS  (150O-5)  i 

Soon  after  Colet's  elevation  to  the  dignities  of  Doctor  and  Dean,  ■ 
a  letter  of  congratulation  arrived  from  Erasmus.  ; 

Colet  had  written  no  letter  to  him,  and  had  almost  lost  sight ' 
of  him  during  these  years.  It  would  seem  that,  after  his  depar-  \ 
ture  from  Oxford,  Colet  had  given  up  all  hopes  of  his  aid.  Nor  I 
had  any  other  kindred  soul  risen  up  to  take  that  place  in  fellow-  ; 
work  beside  him,  which  at  one  time  he  had  hoped  the  great  i 
scholar  might  have  filled.  i 

But  Erasmus  on  his  side  had  not  forgotten  Colet.  His  inter-  '' 
course  with  Colet  at  Oxford  had  changed  the  current  of  his) 
thoughts  and  the  course  of  his  life.  Colet  little  knew  by  what  j 
slow  and  painful  steps  he  had  been  preparing  to  redeem  the] 
promise  he  had  made  on  leaving  Oxford.  i 

We  left  him  making  the  best  of  his  way  to  Dover,  with  his  j 
purse  full  of  golden  crowns,  kindly  bestowed  by  his  English  I 
friends  in  order  that  he  might  now  carry  out  his  long-cherished  i 
intention  of  going  to  Italy.  But  the  fates  had  decreed  against  I 
him.  King  Henry  VII.  had  already  reached  the  avaricious  period  j 
of  his  Hfe  and  reign.  Under  cover  of  an  old  obsolete  statute, ! 
he  had  given  orders  to  the  Custom  House  officers  to  stop  the  | 

^  There  is  a  copy  of  this  translation  of  More's  in  the  British  Museum 
Library.     "  276,  c.  27,  Pico,  etc.,  4°,  London,  1510."     This  is  probably  ; 
the  original  edition.     More  may  have  waited  till  Henry  VIII. 's  accession  | 
before  daring  to  publish  it.  ' 

2  This  date  of  More's  marriage  is  the  date  given  in  the  register  contained  : 
on  the  Burford  family  picture;  and  as  it  is  in  no  way  dependent  on  the  ' 
other  dates,  probably  it  rested  upon  some  family  tradition  or  record.    It  \ 
is  confirmed  by  the  age  of  Margaret  Roper  on  the  Basle  sketch — 22  in  1528. 
Vide  supra,  p.  91,  n.  i.  ' 

2  Cresacre  More's  Life  of  Sir  T.  More,  p.  39, 


isoo-5]  Troubles  of  Erasmus  99 

exportation  of  all  precious  metals,  and  the  Custom  House  officers 
in  their  turn,  construing  their  instructions  strictly  to  the  letter, 
had  seized  upon  Erasmus's  purseful  of  golden  crowns,  and  re- 
lieved him  of  the  burden,  for  the  benefit  of  the  King's  exchequer. 
The  poor  scholar  proceeded  without  them  to  cross  to  Boulogne. 
He  was  a  bad  sailor,  and  the  hardships  of  travel  soon  told 
upon  his  health.  He  was  heart-sick  also;  as  well  he  might  be, 
for  this  unlucky  loss  of  his  purse  had  utterly  disconcerted  once 
more  his  long-cherished  plans.  On  his  arrival  at  Paris,  after  a 
wretched  and  dangerous  journey,^  he  was  taken  ill,  and  recovered 
only  to  bear  his  bitter  disappointment  as  best  he  could.  Before 
he  had  yet  recovered  from  his  illness  he  wrote  this  touching  letter 
to  Arnold,  the  young  legal  friend  of  More,  with  whom  a  few 
weeks  before  he  and  More  had  visited  the  Royal  nursery. 

Erasmus  to  Arnold  ^ 

"  Salve,  mi  Arnolde.  Now  for  six  weeks  I  having  been 
suffering  much  from  a  nocturnal  ague,  of  a  lingering  kind  but 
of  daily  recurrence,  and  it  has  nearly  killed  me.  I  am  not  yet 
free  from  the  disease,  but  still  somewhat  better.  I  don't  yet 
live  again,  but  some  hope  of  Hfe  dawns  upon  me.  You  ask  me 
to  tell  you  my  plans.  Take  this  only,  to  begin  with:  To  mortify 
myself  to  the  world,  I  dash  my  hopes.  I  long  for  nothing  more 
than  to  give  myself  rest,  in  which  I  might  live  wholly  to  God 
alone,  weep  away  the  sins  of  a  careless  life,  devote  myself  to  the 
study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  either  read  somewhat  or  write. 
This  I  cannot  do  in  a  monastery  or  college.  One  could  not  be 
more  delicate  than  I  am;  my  health  will  bear  neither  vigils,  nor 
fasts,  nor  any  disturbance,  even  when  at  its  best.  Here,  where 
I  live  in  such  luxury,  I  often  fall  ill;  what  should  I  do  amid  the 
labours  of  college  life? 

"  I  had  determined  to  go  to  Italy  this  year,  and  to  work  at 
theology  some  months  at  Bologna;  also  there  to  take  the  degree 
of  Doctor;  then  in  the  year  of  Jubilee  to  visit  Rome;  which 
done,  to  return  to  my  friends  and  then  to  settle  down.  But  I 
am  afraid  that  these  things  that  I  would,  I  shall  not  be  able  to 

^  He  arrived  at  Paris  "  postridie  Calend.  Februarias  "  (p.  73,  E.),  i.e. 
Feb.  2,  1500. 

'  This  letter  is  dated  in  the  Leyden  edition,  1490,  and  in  the  edition  of 
1521,  p.  264,  M.LXxxix.  {sic),  but  it  evidently  was  written  shortly  after  the 
illness  of  Erasmus  at  Paris  in  the  spring  of  1500.  See  also  the  mention  of 
"  Arnold  "  in  Epist.  xxix.  (Paris,  April  12)  and  a  repetition  in  it  of  much 
that  is  said  in  this  letter  respecting  Erasmus's  illness  and  intention  of 
visiting  Italy. 


loo  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1500-5 

accomplish.  I  fear,  in  the  first  place,  that  my  health  would  not 
stand  such  a  journey  and  the  heat  of  the  climate.  Lastly,  I 
reckon  that  I  could  not  go  to  Italy,  nor  live  there  without  great 
expense.  It  costs  a  great  deal  also  to  prepare  for  a  degree. 
And  the  Bishop  of  Cambray  gives  very  sparingly.  He  alto- 
gether loves  more  liberally  than  he  gives,  and  promises  every- 
thing much  more  largely  than  he  performs.  It  is  partly  my 
own  fault  for  not  pressing  him.  There  are  so  many  who  are  even 
extorting.  In  the  meantime  I  shall  do  what  seems  for  the  best. 
Farewell." 

What  was  he  to  do?  It  was  clear  that  he  did  not  know 
what  to  do.  The  worst  of  it  was  that  the  unfortunate  loss  of 
the  price  of  many  months'  leisure,  not  only  obliged  him  to  post- 
pone sine  die  his  project  of  visiting  Italy,  but  also  to  spend  a 
large  portion  of  his  time  and  strength  for  the  next  few  years  in  a 
struggle  almost  for  subsistence.  For  the  wolf  must  in  some  way 
or  other  be  kept  from  the  door;  and  Erasmus  was  poor  1 

For  a  few  months  he  struggled  on  at  Paris,  living  in  lodgings 
with  an  old  fellow  student  "  sparingly,"  hard  at  work  at  a  collec- 
tion of  Greek  and  Latin  proverbs — his  Adagia — partly  in  order 
to  raise  the  wind,  partly  to  improve  himself  in  Greek.  Some- 
times borrowing  and  sometimes  begging,  whatever  money 
came  to  his  hands  went  forthwith  first  in  buying  Greek  books 
and  then  in  clothes.  Later  in  the  year,  the  prevalence  of  the 
Plague  in  Paris  drove  him  to  Orleans.  He  would  have  gone  to 
Italy,  but  he  had  not  the  means.  In  December  he  returned  to 
Paris  to  continue  his  struggling  life.  In  a  letter  written  in 
January  1501,  on  the  anniversary  of  his  misfortune  at  Dover, 
he  described  himself  "  as  having  now  for  a  whole  year  been 
sailing  under  a  stormy  sky  against  the  waves  and  against  the 
winds."  To  add  to  his  troubles,  the  Plague  again  broke  out  in 
Paris;  and,  terrified  by  the  number  of  funerals  passing  his  door, 
the  poor  scholar  fled  from  the  city  to  spend  a  few  weeks  in  his 
native  country.  During  his  stay  in  Holland  he  visited  the 
monastery  of  Stein,  where  in  early  years  he  had  tasted  the  bitters 
of  the  monastic  life.  Neither  there  nor  elsewhere  in  Holland 
did  he  find  a  resting-place. 

Fortunately  for  him,  one  true  friend  at  least  turned  up,  willing 
and  able  to  enter  into  sympathy  with  him.  This  was  Battus,  tutor 
to  the  Marchioness  of  Vere.  Erasmus  had  already  corresponded 
with  him  from  Paris,  pouring  out  his  troubles  to  him,  and  declar- 
ing that  he  had  no  other  hope  but  in  him  alone.    Kept  away 


1500-5]  Erasmus  Writes  his  "Enchiridion*'    loi 

from  Paris  by  the  Plague,  and  finding  not  even  a  temporary 
home  in  Holland,  he  at  last  found  a  refuge  for  a  while  from  his 
fears  and  cares  in  a  visit  to  the  castle  of  Tornahens/  the  residence 
of  the  Marchioness  of  Vere  and  of  Battus.  It  had  the  additional 
attraction  of  being  near  to  St.  Omer,  where  Hved  a  former  patron 
of  Erasmus,  the  Abbot  of  St.  Bertin. 

Whilst  staying  with  Battus  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  that  he 
sometimes  thought  of  returning  to  England  to  spend  a  month 
or  two  more  with  Colet,  in  order  to  confer  further  with  him  on 
some  theological  questions.  He  knew  well,  he  said,  how  much 
good  he  should  gain  from  doing  so,  but  he  could  not  get  over  the 
unlucky  experience  of  his  last  voyage.  As  to  his  journey  to 
Italy,  that,  too,  was  knocked  on  the  head.  He  told  his  friend 
that  he  longed  to  visit  Italy  as  ardently  as  ever,  but  it  was  out 
of  the  question;  for,  according  to  the  adage  of  Plautus,  ^^Sine 
pennis  volare  baud  facile  est." 

Battus  also  wrote  to  Lord  Mount  joy  to  tell  him  with  what 
pleasure  he  had  embraced  Erasmus,  but,  "  alas,  how  ill-treated 
and  spoiled!  "  He  told  him  how  he  had  been  commiserating 
Erasmus  on  his  ill-fortune  in  England,  and  how  the  philosopher 
had  smiled  and  bade  him  put  a  good  face  on  it.  He  did  not 
regret  having  visited  England ;  he  cared  more  for  the  friends  he 
had  found  in  England  than  for  all  the  gold  of  Croesus.  Battus 
concluded  by  telling  Lord  Mount  joy  how  Erasmus  had  described 
to  him  the  courtesy  of  the  Prior  Charnock,  the  learning  of  Colet, 
the  good  nature  of  More,  the  virtues  of  his  noble  patron.  It 
was  during  this  visit  to  St.  Omer,  in  the  summer  of  1501,  that 
Erasmus  wrote  his  Enchiridion. 

There  happened  to  be  staying  in  the  castle  a  lady,  a  friend  of 
Battus,  who  had  a  bad  husband.  The  latter,  whilst  holding 
other  divines  at  arm's  length,  took  to  Erasmus.  The  wife, 
thinking  that  he  possibly  might  have  some  influence  over  her 
husband,  begged  him,  without  betraying  that  it  was  at  her 
instigation,  to  write  something  which  might  produce  in  him 
some  religious  impressions.  The  Enchiridion  was  the  result, 
of  which  more  will  be  said  by  and  by. 

It  was  at  St.  Omer  also  that  Erasmus  became  acquainted 

^  Epist.  XXX.  July  2  [1501]  seems  to  be  the  first  letter  written  from  St. 
Omer,  where  Erasmus  was  then  staying  with  the  Abbot.  See  also  Epist. 
xxxix.,  where  he  speaks  of  having  been  terrified  at  Paris  with  the  numbers 
of  funerals.  On  July  12  and  July  18  he  writes  Epist.  liv.-lviii.  ("  Tornaco  " 
evidently  meaning  the  castle  of'Tornahens).  Epist,  lix.  also  was  written 
about  the  same  time.  Epist.  xcviii.  July  30,  if  written  by  Erasmus,  shows 
he  was  still  at  St.  Omer.     All  these  letters  seem  to  belong  to  the  year  1501. 


I02              The  Oxford  Reformers             [1500-s  > 

with  John  Vitrarius — a  second  John  Colet  in  the  earnestness  ■ 

of  his  Christian  zeal  against  the  corruptions  of  the  church  and  ; 

vices  of  the  clergy,  in  his  love  for  St.  Paul,  in  his  outspoken  I 

preaching,  and  even  in  his  manner  of  preaching,  in  his  dislike  ! 

of  the  Scholastic  subtlety  of  Scotus,  and  even  in  his  preference  ] 

for  Ambrose,  Cyprian,  Jerome,  and  Origen  over  Augustine.  \ 

Erasmus  ever  afterwards  linked  the  names  of  Colet  and  Vitra-  ; 

rius  together,  and  admitted  them  both  deservedly  into  his  1 

calendar  of  uncanonised  saints.    The  Enchiridion  was   sub-  j 

mitted  to  the  judgment  of  Vitrarius,  and  obtained  his  approval.  1 

After  many  refreshing  days  passed  at  St.  Omer,  Erasmus 

returned  to  Paris  to  pursue  his  literary  labours.    These,  not-  ! 

withstanding  all  the  hindrances  of  ill-health  and  poverty,  never  ; 

seemed  to  have  flagged.    He  had  already  made  up  his  mind  i 

to  devote  himself  to  the  Herculean  task  of  correcting  the  text  ! 

of  St.  Jerome's  voluminous  works,  with  a  view  to  their  pubHca-  ] 

tion.    The  first  edition  of  his  Adagia  had  been  printed  in  1501 ;  \ 
and  during  a  visit  to  Lou  vain  and  Antwerp,  in  1503,  he  was 

able  to  publish  some   other  works  —  his   afterwards   famous  '' 

Enchiridion  amongst  the  rest.     But  notwithstanding  all  his  j 

indomitable  energy,  and  the  often  repeated  kindness  of  Battus  ;] 

and  the  Marchioness,  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  longer  j 

catalogue  of  troubles  and  disappointments — and  these  too  of  I 

that  harassing  and  vexatious  kind  which  are  most  trying  to  ' 

the  temper — than  is  contained  in  the  letters  of  Erasmus  during  ' 

these  dreary  years.^  j 

He  might  well  have  been  excused  if,  lost  sight  of  as  it  would  j 

seem  by  his  English  friends,  he  had  himself  forgotten  his  promise  \ 

to  Colet  on  leaving  Oxford,  amidst  the  cares  of  his  continental  ' 

life.  i 

But  whilst  these  necessities  not  a  little  interrupted,  as  was  ; 

likely,  those  studies  to  which  Colet' s  example  and  precept  had  i 

urged  him,  and  lengthened  out  the  preliminary  labours  which  j 

Erasmus  had  made  up  his  mind  must  precede  his  active  parti-  j 

cipation  in  Colet's  work,  they  did  not,  it  seems,  damp  his  energy,  | 

or  induce  him  to  look  back  after  putting  his  hand  to  the  plough,  j 

This  and  more  lies  touchingly  hinted  in  the  following  letter  \ 

written  by  Erasmus  to  Colet  on  receipt  of  the  news  of  the  eleva-  '; 

tion  of  his  friend  to  the  dignity  of  Doctor  and  Dean.  i 

^  It  is  very  difficult  to  fix  the  true  dates  of  these  letters,  and  to  ascertain  J 

to  what  year  they  belong.     Epist.  ccccxlvi.  App.,  from  Louvain,  mentions  '{ 

the  death  of   Battus,  and  that  the   Marchioness   of   Vere  had  married  ^ 
below  her.     He  speaks  of  himself  as  buried  in  Greek  studies. 


isoo-5]       Erasmus  Congratulates  Colet  103 


Erasmus  to  Colet  ^ 

"  If  our  friendship,  most  learned  Colet,  had  been  of  a  common- 
place kind,  or  your  habits  those  of  the  common  run  of  men,  I 
should  indeed  have  been  somewhat  fearful  lest  it  might  have 
been  extinguished,  or  at  least  cooled,  by  our  long  and  wide 
separation.  .  .  .  But  I  prefer  to  believe  that  the  cause  of  my 
having  received  no  letter  from  you  now  for  several  years,  lies 
rather  in  your  press  of  business,  or  ignorance  of  my  whereabouts, 
or  even  in  myself,  than  in  your  forgetfulness  of  an  old  friend.  .  .  . 

*'  I  am  much  surprised  that  you  have  not  yet  given  to  the 
world  any  of  your  commentaries  on  St.  Paul  and  the  Gospels. 
I  know  your  modesty,  but  surely  you  ought  to  conquer  that, 
and  print  them  for  the  public  good. 

"  As  to  the  title  of  Doctor  and  Dean,  I  do  not  so  much  con- 
gratulate you  about  these — for  I  know  well  they  will  bring  you 
nothing  but  labour — as  those  for  whose  good  you  are  to  bear 
them. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,  dearest  Colet,  how,  by  hook  and  by  crook, 
I  struggle  to  devote  myself  to  the  study  of  sacred  literature — 
how  I  regret  everything  which  either  delays  me  or  detains  me 
from  it.  But  constant  ill-fortune  has  prevented  me  from  extri- 
cating myself  from  these  hindrances.  When  in  France,  I  deter- 
mined that  if  I  could  not  conquer  these  difficulties  I  would  cast 
them  aside,  and  that  once  freed  from  them,  with  my  whole 
mind  I  would  set  to  work  at  these  sacred  studies,  and  devote 
the  rest  of  my  life  to  them.  Although  three  years  before  I  had 
attempted  something  on  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and 
had  completed  four  volumes  at  one  pull,  I  was  nevertheless 
prevented  from  going  on  with  it,  owing  chiefly  to  the  want  of 
a  better  knowledge  of  Greek.  Consequently,  for  nearly  these 
three  years  past,  I  have  buried  myself  in  Greek  literature;  nor 
do  I  think  the  labour  has  been  thrown  away.  I  began  also  to 
dip  into  Hebrew,  but,  deterred  by  the  strangeness  of  the  words, 
I  desisted,  knowing  that  one  man's  life  and  genius  are  not  enough 
for  too  many  things  at  a  time.  I  have  read  through  a  good 
part  of  the  works  of  Origen,  under  whose  guidance  I  seemed 
really  to  get  on,  for  he  opened  to  me,  as  it  were,  the  springs  and 
the  method  of  theological  science. 

"  I  send  you  [herewith],  as  a  little  literary  present,  some 
lucubrations  of  mine.  Among  them  is  our  discussion,  when  in 
*  Dated  1504,  but  should  be  probably  1505. 


I04  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1500-5 

England,  on  the  Agony  of  Christ,  but  so  altered  that  you  will 
hardly  know  it  again.  Besides,  your  reply  and  my  rejoinder  to 
it  could  not  be  found.  The  Enchiridion  I  wrote  to  display 
neither  genius  nor  eloquence,  but  simply  for  this — to  counteract 
the  vulgar  error  of  those  who  think  that  religion  consists  in  cere- 
monies, and  in  more  than  Jewish  observances,  while  they  neglect 
what  really  pertains  to  piety.  I  have  tried  to  teach,  as  it 
were,  the  art  of  piety  in  the  same  way  as  others  have  laid  down 
the  rules  of  [military]  discipline.  .  .  .  The  rest  were  written 
against  the  grain,  especially  the  Pcean  and  Obsecratio,  which 
I  wrote  to  please  Battus  and  Anna,  the  Princess  of  Vere.  As  to 
the  Panegyric,^  it  was  so  contrary  to  my  taste,  that  I  do  not 
remember  ever  having  written  anything  more  reluctantly;  for 
I  saw  that  such  a  thing  could  not  be  done  without  adulation.  .  .  . 
"  I  wrote,  if  you  recollect,  sometime  past,  about  the  100  copies 
of  the  Adagia,  which  I  sent  at  my  own  expense  to  England,  now 
three  years  ago.  Grocyn  wrote  me  word  that  he  would  arrange 
with  the  greatest  fidehty  and  diligence  that  they  should  be  sold 
according  to  my  wish,  and  I  do  not  doubt  but  that  he  has  per- 
formed his  promise,  for  he  is  the  best  and  most  honourable  man 
that  ever  lived  in  England.  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  aid  me 
in  this  matter,  so  far  as  to  advise  and  spur  on  those  by  whom 
you  think  the  business  ought  to  be  settled?  For  one  cannot 
doubt  but  that,  in  so  long  a  time,  the  books  must  be  sold ;  and 
the  money  must  of  necessity  have  come  to  somebody's  hand; 
and  it  is  likely  to  be  of  more  use  to  me  now  than  ever  before. 
For,  by  some  means  or  other,  I  must  contrive  to  have  a  few 
months  entirely  to  myself,  that  I  may  extricate  myself  somehow 
from  my  labours  in  secular  literature.  This  I  trusted  I  could 
have  done  this  winter,  had  not  so  many  hopes  proved  illusive. 
Nor,  indeed,  '  with  a  great  sum  can  I  obtain  this  freedom,'  even 
for  a  few  months.  I  entreat  you,  therefore,  to  do  what  you  can 
to  aid  me,  panting  as  I  do  eagerly  after  sacred  studies,  in  disen- 
gaging myself  from  those  [secular]  studies  which  have  now 
ceased  to  be  pleasant  to  me.  It  would  not  do  for  me  to  beg  of 
my  friend.  Lord  Mountjoy,  although  it  would  not  seem  unreason- 
able or  impertinent  if,  of  his  own  good  will,  he  had  chosen  to  aid 
me,  both  on  the  ground  of  his  habitual  patronage  of  my  studies, 
and  also  because  the  Adagia  were  undertaken  at  his  suggestion 
and  inscribed  with  his  name.  I  am  ashamed  of  the  first  edition 
[of  the  Adagia]  both  on  account  of  the  blundering  mistakes  of 

^  The  Paneg>Tic  upon  Philip,  King  of  Spain,  on  his  return  to  the  Nether- 
lands. 


1500-5]  Erasmus  to  Colet  105 

the  printers,  which  seem  made  almost  on  purpose,  and  because, 
urged  on  by  others,  I  hurried  over  the  work  which  had  now  begun 
to  seem  to  me  dry  and  poor  after  my  study  of  the  Greek  authors. 
Consequently,  another  edition  is  resolved  upon,  in  which  the 
errors  of  both  author  and  printer  are  to  be  corrected,  and  the 
work  made  as  useful  as  possible  to  students. 

"  Although,  however,  I  may  for  a  while  be  engaged  upon  an 
humble  task,  yet  whilst  thus  working  in  the  Garden  of  the  Greeks, 
I  am  gathering  much  fruit  by  the  way  for  the  time  to  come, 
which  may  hereafter  be  of  use  to  me  in  sacred  studies.  For  I 
have  learned  this  by  experience,  that  without  Greek  one  can  do 
nothing  in  any  branch  of  study;  for  it  is  one  thing  to  conjecture, 
and  quite  another  thing  to  judge — one  thing  to  see  with  other 
people's  eyes,  and  quite  another  thing  to  believe  what  you  see 
with  your  own. 

"  But  to  what  a  length  this  letter  has  grown !  Love,  however, 
will  excuse  loquacity.  Farewell,  most  learned  and  excellent 
Colet. 

"  Pray  let  me  know  what  has  happened  to  our  friend  Sixtinus; 
also  what  your  friend  the  Prior  Richard  Charnock  is  doing. 

''  In  order  that  whatever  you  may  write  or  send  to  me  may 
duly  come  to  hand,  be  so  good  as  to  have  them  addressed  to 
Christopher  Fisher  (a  most  loving  friend  and  patron  of  all  learned 
men,  and  you  amongst  the  rest),  in  whose  family  I  am  now  a 
guest."     Paris,  1504  [in  error  for  1505]. 

Thus  had  the  poor  scholar  worked  on,  for  the  most  part  in 
silence,  during  these  years,  struggling  alone,  yet  manfully,  in  the 
midst  of  the  manifold  hindrances  cast  in  his  way  by  ill-health  and 
straitened  means,  neither  free-born  (as  his  friend  Colet  was)  and 
thus  able  to  tread  unencumbered  the  path  of  duty,  nor  finding 
himself  able  even  "  with  a  great  sum  to  obtain  freedom  "  for  a 
while.  Yet  through  all  had  Erasmus  kept  courageously  to  the 
collar,  steadily  toiling  on  through  five  years  of  preliminary 
labours,  with  earnest  purpose  to  redeem  his  promise  to  Colet — 
first,  fully  to  equip  himself  with  the  proper  tools,  and  then,  but 
not  till  then,  to  join  him  in  fellow  work. 

Colet  surely  had  forgotten  the  promise  of  Erasmus  on  leaving 
Oxford,  or  perchance  the  hope  it  held  out  was  too  slender  for 
him  to  rest  on,  else  he  would  hardly  have  left  him  during  these 
years  without  letters  of  brotherly  encouragement. 

It  is  true  that  Erasmus  still  confessed  himself  to  be  occupied 
in  merely  preliminary  labours.    His  great  work,  no  less  than  it 


io6  The  Oxford  Retormers  [1501-5 

had  been  five  years  before^  was  still  in  the  future.  Yet  the  fire 
caught  from  his  contact  with  Colet  at  Oxford  was  at  least  flicker- 
ing on  the  hearth,  and  with  fresh  stirring  and  fuel  might  perhaps 
after  all  be  kindled  into  active  flame. 

Colet's  reply  to  this  letter  has  not  come  down  to  us,  but  from 
the  result  we  may  be  sure  that  it  contained  a  pressing  invitation 
to  revisit  England,  and  the  promise  of  a  warm  reception. 

VI.   THE   "  enchiridion/'   ETC.,   OF  ERASMUS  (150I-5) 

In  the  meantime,  closer  inspection  of  the  literary  present  sent 
by  Erasmus  must  have  proved  to  Colet  to  how  large  an  extent, 
after  so  long  a  process  of  study  and  digestion,  his  friend  had 
really  adopted  the  views  which  he  himself  had  held  and 
consistently  preached  for  the  last  ten  years. 

The  Enchiridion  was,  in  truth,  a  re-echo  of  the  very  key-note 
of  Colet's  faith.  It  openly  taught,  as  Colet  now  for  so  many 
years  had  been  teaching,  that  the  true  Christian's  religion,  instead 
of  consisting  in  the  acceptance  of  scholastic  dogmas,  or  the  per- 
formance of  outward  rites  and  ceremonies,  really  consists  in  a 
true,  self-sacrificing  loyalty  to  Christ,  his  ever-living  Prince; 
that  life  is  a  warfare,  and  that  the  Christian  must  sacrifice  his 
evil  lusts  and  passions,  and  spend  his  strength,  not  in  the  pursuit 
of  his  own  pleasure,  but  in  active  service  of  his  Prince;  such  was 
the  drift  and  spirit  of  this  "  Handybook  of  the  Christian  Soldier."^ 

It  must  not  be  assumed,  however,  that  Erasmus  had  adopted 
all  the  views  which  Colet  had  expressed  in  their  many  con- 
versations at  Oxford.  On  the  contrary,  I  think  there  may  be 
traced  in  the  Enchiridion  a  tendency  to  interpret  the  text  of 
Scripture  allegorically ,  rather  than  to  seek  out  its  literal  meaning 
— a  tendency  which  must  have  been  somewhat  opposed  to  the 
strong  convictions  of  Colet,  and  even  to  those  of  Erasmus,  in 
after  years.  But  he  had  just  then  been  studying  Origen,  and  it 
is  not  strange  that  he  should  for  a  while  be  fascinated,  as  so 
many  others  have  been,  by  the  allegorical  method  of  interpreta- 
tion adopted  by  that  father.  H«  had  learned  so  much  from 
his  writings,  that  he  yielded  the  more  readily  perhaps  in  this 
particular  to  the  force  of  Origen's  rich  imagination.^ 

1  More  literally  "  The  Pocket  Dagger  of  the  Christian  Soldier."  But 
Erasmus  himself  regarded  it  as  a  "  Handybook."  See  Enchiridion,  ch. 
viii.  English  ed.  1522.  "  We  must  haste  to  that  which  remaineth  lest  it 
should  not  be  an  '  Enchiridion,'  that  is  to  say  '  a  lyteYL  treatyse  hansome 
to  be  caryed  in  a  man's  hande,'  but  rather  a  great  volume." 

*  It  is  evident  that  Erasmus  had  not  yet  appreciated  as  fully  as  he  did 


I50I-S]  The  "  Enchiridion '*  107 

But  if  Colet  did  not  find  his  own  views  reflected  in  all  points 
in  this  early  production  of  Erasmus,  he  would  not  the  less  re- 
joice to  find  its  general  tone  so  spiritual,  so  anti-ceremonial,  and 
so  free  from  superstitious  adherence  to  ecclesiastical  authority. 
That  it  was  so,  no  stronger  proof  could  be  given  than  the  fact 
that,  whilst  for  years  after  it  was  written  it  was  known  only  in 
select  circles,  and  was  far  from  being  a  popular  book;  yet  no 
sooner  had  the  Protestant  movement  commenced  than,  with  a 
fresh  preface,  it  passed  through  almost  innumerable  editions 
with  astonishing  rapidity.  Nor  was  it  read  only  by  the  learned. 
It  was  translated  into  English  by  Tyndale,  and  again  in  an 
abridged  form  reissued  in  English  by  Coverdale.  And  whilst  in 
this  country  it  was  thus  treated  almost  as  a  Protestant  book^ 
so  in  Spain  also  it  had  a  remarkably  wide  circulation.  "  The 
work,"  wrote  the  Archdeacon  of  Alcor,  in  1527 — twenty  years 
after  its  first  silent  publication — "  has  gained  such  applause  and 
credit  to  your  name,  and  has  proved  so  useful  to  the  Christian 
faith,  that  there  is  no  other  book  of  our  time  which  can  be  com- 
pared with  the  Enchiridion  for  the  extent  of  its  circulation,  since 
it  is  found  in  everybody's  hands.  There  is  scarcely  any  one  in 
the  court  of  the  Emperor,  any  citizen  of  our  cities,  or  member  of 
our  churches  and  convents,  no  not  even  a  hotel  or  country  inn^ 
that  has  not  a  copy  of  the  Enchiridion  of  Erasmus  in  Spanish. 
The  Latin  version  was  read  previously  by  the  few  who  under- 
stood Latin,  but  its  full  merit  was  not  perfectly  perceived  even 
by  these.  Now  in  the  Spanish  it  is  read  by  all  without  distinc- 
tion; and  this  short  work  has  made  the  name  of  Erasmus  a 
household  word  in  circles  where  it  was  previously  unknown  and 
had  not  been  heard  of." 

Strong  as  must  have  been  the  Protestant  tendencies  of  this 
little  book  to  have  made  it  so  great  a  favourite  with  Protestant 
Reformers,  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  its  tone  was  as  moderate 
and  anti-Augustinian  upon  the  great  questions  of  free  will  and 
grace,  and  in  this  respect  as  decidedly  opposed  to  the  extreme 
Augustinian  views  adopted  by  the  Protestant  Reformers,  as  any- 
thing that  Erasmus  ever  afterwards  wrote  during  the  heat  of  the 
controversy. 

To  abridge  what  is  said  in  the  Enchiridion  on  this  subject  into 
a  few  sentences,  but  retaining,  as  nearly  as  may  be,  the  words  of 
Erasmus,  it  is  this : — 

'*  The  good  man  is  he  whose  body  is  a  temple  of  the  Holy 

afterwards  the  historical  method  which  Colet  had  applied  to  St.  Paul's 
Epistles  to  get  at  their  real  meaning  and  "  spirit." 


io8  The  Oxford  Reformers  [isoi-s 

Spirit;  the  bad  man  is  like  a  whited  sepulchre  full  of  dead  men's 
bones.  If  the  soul  loathes  its  proper  food,  if  it  cannot  see  what 
is  truth,  if  it  cannot  discern  the  Divine  voice  speaking  in  the 
inner  ear;  if,  in  fact,  it  has  become  senseless,  it  is  dead.  And 
wherefore  dead?  Because  God,  who  is  its  life,  has  forsaken  it. 
Now  if  the  soul  be  dead  it  cannot  be  raised  into  life  again  but 
by  the  gracious  power  of  God  only.  But  we  have  God  on  our 
side.  Our  enemy  has  been  conquered  by  Christ.  In  ourselves 
we  are  weak;  in  Him  we  are  strong.  The  victory  lies  in  his 
hands,  but  he  has  put  it  also  in  ours.  No  one  need  fail  to 
conquer,  unless  he  does  not  choose  to  conquer.  Aid  is  withheld 
from  none  who  desire  it.  If  we  accept  it,  he  will  fight  for  us, 
and  impute  his  love  as  merit  to  us.  The  victory  is  to  be  ascribed 
to  him,  who  alone  being  sinless,  overcame  the  tyranny  of  sin; 
but  we  are  not  on  that  account  to  expect  it  without  our  own 
exertions.  We  must  steer  our  course  between  Scylla  and 
Charybdis.  We  must  neither  sit  down  in  idle  security,  relying 
on  Divine  grace;  nor,  in  view  of  the  hardness  of  the  struggle, 
lay  down  our  arms  in  despair."  ^ 

Thus  early  had  Erasmus,  following  the  lead  of  Colet,  taken 
up  the  position  as  regards  this  question  to  which  he  adhered 
through  life. 

But  the  Enchiridion  was  not  the  only  work  published  by 
Erasmus  during  this  interval.  Probably  annexed  to  it,  and 
under  the  same  cover,  he  had  published  his  long  report  of  the 
conversation  between  himself  and  Colet  at  Oxford  on  the  causes 
of  the  Agony  of  Christ  in  the  Garden.  This  showed  at  least  that 
he  had  not  forgotten  what  had  passed  between  them  on  that 
occasion.  As,  however,  he  did  not  append  to  it  Colet's  reply,  it 
cannot  be  concluded  that  he  had  given  up  his  own  opinion,  either 
on  the  question  directly  in  dispute,  or  on  the  still  more  important 
one,  which  came  out  of  it,  on  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
and  the  theory  of  "  manifold  senses." 

Very  clearly,  however,  did  the  letter  which  accompanied  these 
works  show  that  Erasmus  had  already  resolved  to  dedicate  his 
life  to  the  great  work  of  bringing  out  the  Scriptures  into  their 
proper  prominence,  and  thereby  throwing  into  the  background 
all  that  mass  of  scholastic  subtlety  which  had  for  so  long  formed 
the  food  of  theologians.     If  now  for  years  he  had  been  wading 

^  The  above  is  an  abridged  translation  from  the  Enchiridion,  ed.  Argent. 
June  1516,  pp.  7,  8,  which,  being  published  before  the  Lutheran  con- 
troversy commenced,  is  probably  a  reprint  of  the  earlier  editions.  The 
editions  of  1515  are  the  earliest  that  I  have  seen. 


1505]  Other  Works  of  Erasmus  109 

through  Greek  literature,  it  was  not  merely  for  its  own  sake,  but 
with  this  great  object  in  view.  If,  on  account  of  his  learning  and 
eloquence,  his  friends  at  the  court  of  the  Netherlands  had  pressed 
him  into  their  service,  and  induced  him  to  compose  a  flattering 
oration  on  the  occasion  of  the  return  of  Philip  from  Spain,  he 
had  counted  the  labour  as  lost,  except  so  far  as  it  probably  helped 
to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door  for  a  week  or  two.  Even  the  two 
editions  of  the  Adagia  were  evidently  regarded  only  as  stepping- 
stones  to  that  knowledge  without  which  he  felt  that  it  would 
be  useless  for  him  to  attempt  to  master  the  Greek  New  Testa- 
ment. Of  this  he  gave  further  practical  proof  before  his  arrival 
again  in  England.  For  whilst  still  under  the  hospitable  roof  of 
his  friend  Fisher,  the  Papal  protonotary  at  Paris,  he  brought 
out  his  edition  of  Laurentius  Valla's  Annotations  upon  the  New 
Testament,  a  copy  of  which  he  had  chanced  to  light  upon  in  an 
old  library  during  the  previous  summer.  And  to  this  edition 
was  prefixed  a  prefatory  letter  to  this  kind  host,  remarkable  for 
the  boldness  of  its  tone  and  the  freedom  of  its  thought. 

He  knew  well,  he  wrote,  that  some  readers  would  cry  out, 
"  Oh,  Heavens !  "  before  they  had  got  to  the  end  of  the  titlepage; 
but  such  as  these  he  reminded  of  the  advice  of  Aristophanes: 
"  First  listen,  my  friends,  and  then  you  may  shriek  and  bluster! " 
He  knew,  he  went  on  to  say,  that  theologians,  who  ought  to  get 
more  good  out  of  the  book  than  any  one  else,  would  raise  the 
greatest  tumult  against  it;  that  they  would  resent  as  a  sacri- 
legious infringement  of  their  own  sacred  province  any  inter- 
ference of  Valla,  the  grammarian,  with  the  sacred  text  of  the 
Scriptures.  But  he  boldly  vindicated  the  right  and  the  necessity 
of  a  fair  criticism,  as  in  many  passages  the  Vulgate  was  mani- 
festly at  fault,  was  a  bad  rendering  of  the  original  Greek,  or  had 
itself  been  corrupted.  If  any  one  should  reply  that  the  theo- 
logian is  above  the  laws  of  grammar,  and  that  the  work  of  inter- 
pretation depends  solely  upon  inspiration,  this  were,  he  said, 
indeed  to  claim  a  new  dignity  for  divines.  Were  they  alone 
to  be  allowed  to  indulge  in  bad  grammar?  He  quoted  from 
Jerome  to  show  that  he  claimed  no  inspiration  for  the  trans- 
lator; and  asked  what  would  have  been  the  use  of  Jerome's 
giving  directions  for  the  translation  of  Holy  Scripture  if  the 
power  of  translating  depended  upon  inspiration.  Again,  how 
was  it  that  Paul  was  evidently  so  much  more  at  home  in  Hebrew 
than  in  Greek?  Finally  he  urged,  if  there  be  errors  in  the  Vul- 
gate, is  it  not  lawful  to  correct  them?  Many  indeed  he  knew 
would  object  to  change  any  word  in  the  Bible,  because  they 


iio  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1505 

fancy  that  in  every  letter  is  hid  some  mystic  meaning.  Suppose 
that  it  were  so,  would  it  not  be  all  the  more  needful  that  the 
exact  original  text  should  be  restored  ? 

This  was  a  bold  public  beginning  of  that  work  of  Biblical 
criticism  to  which  Colet's  example  so  powerfully  urged  Erasmus. 

The  edition  of  Valla's  Annotations,  with  this  letter  prefixed 
to  it,  was  published  at  Paris  in  1505,  while  he  was  busily  engaged 
in  bringing  out  the  second  edition  of  the  Adagia.  And  it  would 
seem  that  he  only  waited  for  the  completion  of  these  works  before 
again  crossing  the  Straits  to  pay  another  visit  to  his  English 
friends. 


I505]  Erasmus  in  En2:land  1 1 1 


iD 


CHAPTER  V 

I.   SECOND   VISIT   OF  ERASMUS   TO   ENGLAND  (1505-6) 

Towards  the  close  of  1505,  Erasmus  arrived  in  England^  to 
renew  his  intimacy  with  his  English  friends.  He  had  not  this 
time  to  visit  Oxford  in  order  to  meet  them.  Colet,  Grocyn, 
Linacre,  More,  and  his  friend  Lilly,  all  were  ready  to  receive 
him  with  open  arms  in  London.  He  seems,  for  a  time  at  least, 
to  have  been  More's  guest. 

Since  Erasmus  had  last  seen  him,  the  youth  had  matured  into 
the  man.  He  had  passed  through  much  discipline  and  mental 
struggle.  But  his  grey  eye  sparkled  still  with  native  wit,  and  a 
hasty  glance  round  his  rooms  was  enough  to  assure  his  old  friend 
that  his  tastes  were  what  they  used  to  be — that  in  heart  and 
mind,  in  spite  of  all  that  had  befallen  him,  he  was  the  same  high- 
toned  and  happy-hearted  soul  he  always  had  been. 

More's  young  and  gentle  wife,  fresh  from  the  retirement  of 
her  father's  country  home,  was  too  uncultured  to  attract  much 
notice  from  the  learned  foreigner;  but  he  tells  us  More  had 
purposely  chosen  a  wife  whom  he  could  mould  to  his  own  liking 
for  a  life  companion.  Both  were  young,  and  she  was  apt  to 
learn.  Wliilst,  therefore,  he  himself  found  time  to  devote  to  his 
favourite  Greek  books  and  his  lyre,  he  was  imparting  by  degrees 
to  her  his  own  fondness  for  literature  and  music. 

Erasmus  found  him  writing  Latin  epigrams  and  verses,  in 
which  the  pent-up  bitter  thoughts  of  the  past  year  or  two  were 
making  their  escape.  Some  were  on  priests  and  monks — sharp 
biting  satires  on  their  evil  side,  and  by  no  means  showing  abject 
faith  in  monkhood.^ 

^  The  epigrams  have  no  dates,  and  it  is  impossible,  therefore,  to  say 
positively  which  of  them  were  written  during  this  period.  The  following 
translation  of  one  of  them  from  Cayley's  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  vol.  i. 
p.  270  (with  this  reservation  as  to  its  date),  may  be  taken  as  a  sample: — 

A  squall  arose;  the  vessel's  tossed; 
The  sailors  fear  their  lives  are  lost. 
"  Our  sins,  our  sins,"  dismayed  they  cry. 
"  Have  wrought  this  fatal  destiny!  " 

A  monk  it  chanced  was  of  the  crew. 
And  round  him  to  confess  they  drew. 


112  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1505 

Nor  was  he  courting  back  again  the  favour  of  offended  royalty 
by  melodious  and  repentant  whinings.  Rather  his  pen  gave 
vent  to  the  chafed  and  untamed  spirit  of  the  man  who  knew  he 
had  done  his  duty^  and  was  unjustly  suffering  for  it.  His  un- 
relenting hatred  of  the  king's  avarice  and  tyranny  may  be  read 
in  the  very  headings  of  his  epigrams.^ 

Erasmus  joined  More  in  his  studies.  He  was  translating  into 
Latin  some  of  Lucian's  Dialogues  and  his  Dedaniatio  pro  Tyran- 
nicidd.  At  More's  suggestion  they  both  wrote  a  full  answer  to 
Lucian's  arguments  in  favour  of  tyrannicide^  imitating  Lucian's 
style  as  nearly  as  possible;  and  Erasmus,  in  sending  a  copy  of 
these  essays  to  a  friend,  spoke  of  More  in  terms  which  show  how 
fully  he  had  again  yielded  to  the  fascination  and  endearing 
charms  of  his  character.  As  he  had  once  spoken  of  the  youth, 
so  now  he  spoke  of  the  man.  Never,  he  thought,  had  nature 
united  so  fully  in  one  mind  so  many  of  the  qualities  of  genius — 
the  keenest  insight,  the  readiest  wit,  the  most  convincing 
eloquence,  the  most  engaging  manners — he  possessed,  he  said, 
every  quality  required  to  make  a  perfect  advocate. 

Such  a  man,  with  fair  play  and  opportunity,  was  sure  to  rise 
into  distinction.  But  as  yet  he  must  bide  his  time,  waiting  for 
the  day  when  he  could  pursue  his  proper  calling  at  the  bar 
without  risk  of  incurring  royal  displeasure. 

II.  ERASMUS  AGAIN  LEAVES  ENGLAND  FOR  ITALY  (1506) 

Erasmus  seems  to  have  spent  some  months  during  the  spring 
of  1506  with  his  English  friends,  busying  himself,  as  already 
mentioned,  in  translating  in  More's  company  portions  of  Lucian's 

Yet  still  the  restless  ship  is  tossed, 
And  still  they  fear  their  lives  are  lost. 

One  sailor,  keener  than  the  rest, 
Cries,  "  With  our  sins  she's  still  oppress'd; 
Heave  out  that  monk,  who  bears  them  all. 
And  then  full  well  she'll  ride  the  squall." 

So  said,  so  done;  with  one  accord 
They  threw  the  caitiff  overboard. 
And  now  the  bark  before  the  gale 
Scuds  with  light  hull  and  easy  sail. 

Learn  hence  the  weight  of  sin  to  know. 
With  which  a  ship  could  scarcely  go. 

^E.g.: — "  T.  Mori  in  Avarum";  "  Dives  Avarus  Pauper  est";  "  Sola 
Mors  Tyrannicida  est  ";  "  Quid  inter  Tj-rannum  et  Principem  ";  "  Solli- 
citam  esse  Tjoranni  Vitam";  "  Bonum  Principem  esse  Patrem  non 
Dominum  ";  "  De  bono  Rege  et  Populo  ";  "  De  Principe  bono  et  malo  "; 
"  Regem  non  satellitium  sed  virtus  reddit  tutum  ";  "  Populus  consentiens 
regnum  dat  et  aufert  " ;  "  Quis  optimus  reipub.  status." 


I506J  Erasmus  Leaves  for  Italy  1 1 3 

works,  and,  so  far  as  his  letters  show  at  first  sight,  not  very 
eagerly  pursuing  those  sacred  studies  at  which  he  had  told  Colet 
that  he  longed  to  labour. 

Nor  was  there  really  anything  inconsistent  in  this.  The  truth 
was  that,  in  order  to  complete  his  knowledge  of  Greek,  without 
which  he  had  declared  he  could  do  nothing  thoroughly,  he  had 
yet  to  undertake  that  journey  to  Italy  which  had  been  the  dream 
of  his  early  manhood,  and  the  realisation  of  which  six  years  ago 
had  only  been  prevented  by  his  unlucky  accident  at  Dover. 
This  journey  to  Italy  lay  between  him  and  the  great  work  of  his 
life,  and  still  the  adage  of  Plautus  remained  inexorable,  "  Sine 
pennis  volare  baud  facile  est." 

It  was  therefore  that  he  was  translating  Lucian.  It  was  there- 
fore that  he  dedicated  one  dialogue  to  one  friend,  another  to 
another.^  It  was  therefore  that  he  paid  court  to  this  patron  of 
learning  and  that.  It  was  not  that  he  was  importunate  and 
servilely  fond  of  begging,  but  that,  by  hook  or  by  crook,  the 
necessary  means  must  be  found  to  carry  out  his  project. 

It  was  thus  that  we  find  Grocyn  rowing  with  him  to  Lambeth 
to  introduce  him  to  Archbishop  Warham,  and  the  two  joking 
together  as  they  rowed  back  to  town  upon  the  small  pecuniary 
result  of  their  visit. 

Funds,  it  appeared,  did  not  come  in  as  quickly  as  might  have 
been  wished,  but  at  length  the  matter  was  arranged.  Erasmus 
was  to  proceed  to  Italy,  taking  under  his  wing  two  English 
youths,  sons  of  Dr.  Baptista,  chief  physician  to  Henry  VII.  A 
young  Scotch  nobleman,  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  was 
also  to  be  placed  under  the  scholar's  care.  By  this  arrangement 
Erasmus  was,  as  it  were,  to  work  his  passage ;  which  he  thank- 
fully agreed  to  do,  and  set  out  accordingly.  With  what  feelings 
he  left  England,  and  with  what  longings  to  return,  may  be  best 
gathered  from  the  few  lines  he  wrote  to  Colet  from  Paris,  after 
having  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  journey,  including  a 
rough  tos?  of  four  days  across  the  Straits — 

Erasmus  to  Colet 

"Paris:  June  19,  1506. 

"  When,  after  leaving  England,  I  arrived  once  more  in  France, 

it  is  hard  to  say  how  mingled  were  my  feelings.     I  cannot  easily 

^  Lucian's  dialogue  called  Somnium  he  sent  to  Dr.  Christopher  Urswick, 
a  well-known  statesman;  Toxaris,  site  de  Amicitid,  to  Fox,  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester; Timon  to  Dr.  Ruthall.  afterwards  Bishop  of  Diurham;  De  Tyran- 
nicidd,  to  Dr.  Whitford,  chaplain  to  Fox. 


114  'The  Oxford  Reformers  [1506 

tell  you  which  preponderated,  my  joy  in  visiting  again  the  friends 
I  had  before  left  in  France,  or  my  sadness  in  leaving  those  whom 
I  had  recently  found  in  England.  For  this  I  can  say  truly,  that 
there  is  no  whole  country  which  has  found  me  friends  so 
numerous,  so  sincere,  learned,  obliging,  so  noble  and  accom- 
plished in  every  way,  as  the  one  City  of  London  has  done.  Each 
has  so  vied  with  others  in  affection  and  good  offices,  that  I 
cannot  tell  whom  to  prefer.  I  am  obliged  to  love  all  of  them 
alike.  The  absence  of  these  must  needs  be  painful;  but  I  take 
heart  again  in  the  recollection  of  the  past,  keeping  them  as  con- 
tinually in  mind  as  if  they  were  present,  and  hoping  that  it  may 
so  turn  out  that  I  may  shortly  return  to  them,  never  again  to 
leave  them  till  death  shall  part  us.  I  trust  to  you,  with  my  other 
friends,  to  do  your  best  for  the  sake  of  your  love  and  interest  for 
me  to  bring  this  about  as  soon  and  as  propitiously  as  you  can. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  pleased  I  am  with  the  disposition  of  the 
•sons  of  Baptista:  nothing  could  be  more  modest  or  tractable; 
nor  could  they  be  more  diligent  in  their  studies.  I  trust  that 
this  arrangement  for  them  may  ansvv^er  their  father's  hopes  and 
my  desires,  and  that  they  may  hereafter  confer  great  honour 
upon  England.    Farewell." 

To  Linacre,  too,  Erasmus  wrote  in  similar  terms.  He  alluded 
to  the  unpleasant  consequences  to  his  health  of  his  four  days' 
experience  of  the  winds  and  waves,  and  wished,  he  said,  that 
Linacre's  medical  skill  were  at  hand  to  still  his  throbbing  temples. 
He  expressed,  as  he  had  done  to  Colet,  the  hope  that  he  soon 
might  be  able  to  return  to  England,  and  that  the  task  he  had 
undertaken  with  regard  to  his  two  pupils  might  turn  out  well; 
■and  he  ended  his  letter  by  urging  his  friend  to  write  to  him  often. 
Let  it  be  in  few  words,  if  he  liked,  but  he  must  write. 

III.  ERASMUS  VISITS  ITALY  AND  RETURNS  TO  ENGLAND  (1507-I0) 

At  length  Erasmus  really  was  on  his  way  to  Italy,  trudging 
along  on  horseback,  day  after  day,  through  the  dirt  of  continental 
roads,  accompanied  by  the  two  sons  of  Dr.  Baptista,  their  tutor, 
and  a  royal  courier,  commissioned  to  escort  them  as  far  as 
Bologna. 

It  is  not  easy  to  reaHse  the  toil  of  such  a  journey  to  a  jaded 
•delicate  scholar,  already  complaining  of  the  infirmities  of  age, 
though  as  yet  not  forty.  Strange  places,  too,  for  a  fastidious 
student  were  the  roadside  inns  of  Germany,  of  which  Erasmus 


1507]  Erasmus  Visits  Italy  115 

has  left  so  vivid  a  picture,  and  into  which  he  turned  his  weary 
head  each  successive  night,  after  grooming  his  own  horse  in  the 
stable.  One  room  serves  for  all  comers,  and  in  this  one  room, 
heated  like  a  stove,  some  eighty  or  ninety  guests  have  already 
stowed  themselves — boots,  baggage,  dirt  and  all.  Their  wet 
clothes  hang  on  the  stove  iron  to  dry,  while  they  wait  for  their 
supper.  There  are  footmen  and  horsemen,  merchants,  sailors, 
waggoners,  husbandmen,  children,  and  women — sound  and  sick 
— combing  their  heads,  wiping  their  brows,  cleaning  their  boots, 
stinking  of  garHc,  and  making  as  great  a  confusion  of  tongues  as 
there  was  at  the  building  of  Babel !  At  length,  in  the  midst  of 
the  din  and  stifling  closeness  of  this  heated  room,  supper  is  spread 
— a  coarse  and  ill-cooked  meal — which  our  scholar  scarcely  dares 
to  touch,  and  yet  is  obliged  to  sit  out  to  the  end  for  courtesy's 
sake.  And  when  past  midnight  Erasmus  is  shown  to  his  bed- 
chamber, he  finds  it  to  be  rightly  named — there  is  nothing  in  it 
but  a  bed ;  and  the  last  and  hardest  task  of  the  day  is  now  to  find 
between  its  rough  unwashed  sheets  some  chance  hours  of  repose. 

So,  almost  in  his  own  words,  did  Erasmus  fare  on  his  way  to 
Italy.  Nor  did  comforts  increase  as  Germany  was  left  behind. 
For  as  the  party  crossed  the  Alps,  the  courier  quarrelled  with  the 
tutor,  and  they  even  came  to  blows.  After  this,  Erasmus  was 
too  angry  with  both  to  enjoy  the  company  of  either,  and  so  rode 
apart,  composing  verses  on  those  infirmities  of  age  which  he 
felt  so  rapidly  encroaching  upon  his  own  frail  constitution.  At 
length  the  Italian  frontier  was  reached,  and  Erasmus,  as  Luther 
did  three  or  four  years  after ,^  began  the  painful  task  of  realising 
what  that  Italy  was  about  which  he  had  so  long  and  so  ardently 
dreamed. 

It  is  not  needful  here  to  trace  Erasmus  through  all  his  Italian 
experience.  It  presents  a  catalogue  of  disappointments  and  dis- 
comforts upon  which  we  need  not  dwell.  How  his  arrangement 
with  the  sons  of  Baptista,  having  lasted  a  year,  came  to  an  end, 
and  with  it  the  most  unpleasant  year  of  his  life;  how  he  took  his 
doctor's  degree  at  Turin;  how  he  removed  to  Bologna  to  find 
the  city  besieged  by  Roman  armies,  headed  by  Pope  Juhus  him- 
self; howhe  visited  Florence  and  Rome;  how  he  went  to  Venice 
to  superintend  a  new  edition  of  the  Adagia;  how  he  was  flattered, 
and  how  many  honours  he  was  promised,  and  how  many  of  these 
promises  he  found  to  be,  as  injuries  ought  to  be,  written  on  sand; 
these  and  other  particulars  of  his  Italian  experience  may  be  left 
to  the  biographer  of  Erasmus.  In  1509,  on  the  accession  of 
^  Luther  visited  Rome  in  15 lo,  or  a  year  or  two  later. 


1 6  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1509 


Henry  VIII.  to  the  English  throne,  the  friends  of  Erasmus  sent  : 

him  a  pressing  invitation  to  return  to  England,  which  he  gladly  - 

accepted.    For  our  present  purpose  it  were  better,  therefore,  to  j 

see  him  safely  on  his  horse  again,  toiling  back  on  the  same  pack-  ■ 

horse  roads,  lodging  at  the  same  roadside  inns,  and  meeting  the  ] 

same  kind  of  people  as  before,  but  his  face  now,  after  three  or  j 

four  years'  absence,  set  towards  England,  where  there  are  hearts  ''. 

he  can  trust,  whether  he  can  or  can  not  those  in  Rome,  and  where  ; 

once  again,  safely  housed  with  More,  he  can  write  and  talk  to  i 

Colet  as  he  pleases,  and  forget  in  the  pleasures  of  the  present  the  i 

toils  and  disappointments  of  the  past.^  I 

For  what  most  concerns  the  history  of  the  Oxford  Reformers  1 

is  this — that  it  was  to  beguile  these  journeys  that  Erasmus  con-  j 

ceived  the  idea  of  his  Praise  of  Folly,  a  satire  upon  the  follies  of  i 

the  times  which  had  grown  up  within  him  at  these  wayside  inns,  ' 

as  he  met  in  them  men  of  all  classes  and  modes  of  life,  and  the  J 

keen  edge  of  which  was  whetted  by  his  recent  visit  to  Italy  and  1 

Rome.-    What  most  concerns  the  subject  of  these  pages  is  the  : 

mental  result  of  the  Italian  journey,  and  it  was  not  long  before  it  \ 

was  known  in  almost  every  wayside  inn  in  Europe.  j 

I 

IV.    MORE   RETURNS   TO    PUBLIC   LIFE   ON   THE   ACCESSION  ] 

OF   HENRY   VIII.   (1509-I0)  j 

But  little  can  be  known  of  what  happened  to  Colet  and  More  ; 
during  the  absence  of  Erasmus  in  Italy. 

1  It  is  difficult  to  fix  the  date  of  the  arrival  of  Erasmus  in  England.  \ 

He  was  at  Venice  in  the  autumn  of  1508.     (See  the  Aldine  edition  of  his  1 

Adagia,  dated  Sept.  1508.)     After  this  he  wintered  at  Padua  (see  Vita  \ 

Erasmi,  prefixed  to  Eras.  Op.  i.);  and  after  this  went  to  Rome  {ibid.),  j 

This  brings  the  chronology  to  the  spring  of  1509.     In  April  1509,  Henry  , 

VIII.  ascended  the  English  throne.     On  May  27,  1509,  Lord  Mount  joy  v 

wrote  to  Erasmus,  who  seems  to  have  been  then  at  Rome,  pressing  him  to  J 

come  back  to  England  (Eras.  Epist.  x.,  the  date  of  which  is  fixed  by  its  ] 

contents) .  ", 

The  letter  prefixed  to  the  Praise  of  Folly  is  dated  ex  rure,  "  quinto  Idas  \ 

Junias"  and  states  that  the  book  is  the  result  of  his  meditations  during  ; 

his  long  joiorneys  on  horseback  on  his  way  from  Italy  to  England.     This  j 

letter  must  have  been  dated  June  9,  1510,  at  earliest,  or  1511,  at  latest.  \ 

15 10  is  the  probable  date.     The  later  editions  of  the  Praise  of  Folly  put  i 

the  year  1508  to  this  letter;  but  the  edition  of  August  151 1  (Argent.)  gives  j 

no  year,  nor  does  the  Basle  edition  of  1519,  to  which  the  notes  of  Lystrius  ] 

were  appended.     So  that  the  printed  date  is  of  no  authority,  and  it  is  j 

entirely  inconsistent  with  the  history  of  the  book  as  given  by  Erasmus,  j 

The  first  edition,  printed  by  Gourmont,  at  Paris,  I  have  not  seen,  but,  ] 

according  to  Brunet,  it  has  no  date.     In  the  absence  of  direct  proof,  it  is  i 

probable  on  the  whole  that  Erasmus  returned  to  England  between  the  : 

autumn  of  1509  and  June  1510.  ; 

*  See  the  letter  to  More  prefixed  to  the  Praise  of  Folly. 


I509]  More  Returns  to  Public  Life         1 17 

That  Colet  was  devoted  to  the  work  of  his  Deanery  may  well 
be  imagined. 

As  to  More;  during  the  remaining  years  of  Henry  VII. 's  reign 
he  was  living  in  continual  fear — thinking  of  flying  the  realm  ^ — 
going  so  far  as  to  pay  a  visit  to  the  universities  of  Louvain  and 
Paris,2  as  though  to  make  up  his  mind  where  to  flee  to,  if  flight 
became  needful.^ 

Nor  were  these  fears  imaginary.  More  was  not  alone  in 
his  dread  of  the  King.  Daily  the  royal  avarice  was  growing 
more  unbounded.  Cardinal  Morton's  celebrated  fork — the  two- 
pronged  dilemma  with  which  benevolences  were  extracted  from 
the  rich  by  the  clever  prelate — had  been  bad  enough.  The  legal 
plunder  of  Empson  and  Dudley  was  worse.  It  filled  every  one 
with  terror.  "  These  two  ravening  wolves/'  writes  Hall,  who 
lived  near  enough  to  the  time  to  feel  some  of  the  exasperation  he 
described,  "  had  such  a  guard  of  false  perjured  persons  apper- 
taining to  them,  which  were  by  their  commandment  empannelled 
on  every  quest,  that  the  King  was  sure  to  win  whoever  lost. 
Learned  men  in  the  law,  when  they  were  required  of  their  advice, 
would  say,  *  to  agree  is  the  best  counsel  I  can  give  you.'  By  this 
undue  means,  these  covetous  persons  filled  the  King's  coffers  and 
enriched  themselves.  At  this  unreasonable  and  extortionate 
doing  noblemen  grudged,  mean  men  kicked,  poor  men  lamented, 
preachers  openly  at  Paul's  Cross  and  other  places  exclaimed, 
rebuked,  and  detested,  but  yet  they  would  never  amend."  Then 
came  the  general  pardon,  the  result,  it  was  said,  of  the  remorse  of 
the  dying  King,  and  soon  after  the  news  of  his  death. 

Henry  VIII.  was  proclaimed  King,  April  23, 1509.  The  same 
day  Empson  and  Dudley  were  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  on  August 
17,  in  the  following  year,  they  were  both  beheaded. 

More  was  personally  known  to  the  new  King,  and  presented 
to  him  on  his  accession  a  richly  illuminated  vellum  book,  con- 
taining verses  of  congratulation.  These  verses  have  been  dis- 
paraged as  too  adulatory  in  their  tone.  And  no  doubt  they  were 
so ;  but  More  had  written  them  evidently  with  a  far  more  honest 
loyalty  than  Erasmus  was  able  to  command  when  he  wrote  a 
welcome  to  Philip  of  Spain  on  his  return  to  the  Netherlands 
More  honestly  did  rejoice,  and  with  good  reason,  on  the  accession 
of  Henry  VIII.  to  the  throne.  It  not  only  assured  him  of 
own  personal  safety;  it  was  in  measure  like  the  rise  of  his  ow 
little  party  into  power. 

'  Roper,  p.  9. 

*  See  More's  letter  to  Dorpius,  in  which  he  mentions  this  visit 

3  Roper,  p.  6. 


ds. 
iony 
hisf 
wn> 


ii8  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1509 

fNot  that  More  and  Colet  and  Linacre  were  suddenly  trans- 
formed into  courtiers,  but  that  Henry  himself,  having  been 
educated  to  some  extent  in  the  new  learning,  would  be  likely  at 
least  to  keep  its  enemies  in  check  and  give  it  fair  play.  There 
had  been  some  sort  of  connection  and  sympathy  between  Prince 
Henry  in  his  youth  and  More  and  his  friends;  witness  More's 
freedom  in  visiting  the  royal  nursery.  Linacre  had  been  the 
tutor  of  Henry's  elder  brother,  and  was  made  royal  physician  on 
Henry's  accession.  From  the  tone  of  More's  congratulatory 
verses  it  may  be  inferred  that  he  and  his  friends  had  not  concealed 
from  the  Prince  their  love  of  freedom  and  their  hatred  of  his 
father's  tyranny.  For  these  verses,  however  flattering  in  their 
tone,  were  plain  and  outspoken  upon  this  point  as  words  well 
could  be.  With  the  suaviter  in  modo  was  united,  in  no  small 
proportion,  the  fortiter  in  re.  It  would  be  the  King's  own  fault 
if,  knowing,  as  he  must  have  done,  More's  recent  history,  he 
should  fancy  that  these  words  were  idle  words,  or  that  he  could 
make  the  man,  whose  first  pubHc  act  was  one  of  resistance  to  the 
unjust  exactions  of  his  father,  into  a  pliant  tool  of  his  own !  If 
he  should  ever  try  to  make  More  into  a  courtier,  he  would  do 
so  at  least  with  his  royal  eyes  open. 

How  fully  Henry  VIII.  on  his  part  sided  with  the  people 
against  the  counsellors  of  his  father  was  not  only  shown  by  the 
execution  of  Dudley,  but  also  by  the  appointment,  almost  im- 
mediately after,  of  Thomas  More  to  the  office  of  under-sheriff  in 
the  City,  the  very  office  which  Dudley  himself  had  held  at  the 
time  when,  as  speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons,  he  had  been  a 
witness  of  More's  bold  conduct — an  office  which  he  and  his 
successor  had  very  possibly  used  more  to  the  King's  profit  than 
to  the  ends  of  impartial  justice. 

The  young  lawyer  who  had  dared  to  incur  royal  displeasure 
by  speaking  out  in  ParHament  in  defence  of  the  pockets  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  had  naturally  become  a  popular  man  in  the  City. 
And  his  appointment  to  this  judicial  office  was,  therefore,  a 
popular  appointment. 

The  spirit  in  which  More  entered  upon  its  responsible  duties 
still  more  endeared  him  to  the  people.  Some  years  after,  by 
refusing  a  pension  offered  him  by  Henry  VIIL,  he  proved  him- 
self more  anxious  to  retain  the  just  confidence  of  his  fellow- 
citizens,  in  the  impartiality  of  his  decisions  in  matters  between 
them  and  the  King,  than  to  secure  his  own  emolument  or  his 
Sovereign's  patronage.  The  spirit  too  in  which  he  re-entered 
upon  his  own  private  practice  as  a  lawyer  was  illustrated  both 


I5IO]  The  "  Praise  of  Folly  '*  119 

by  his  constant  habit  of  doing  all  he  could  to  get  his  clients  to- 
come  to  a  friendly  agreement  before  going  to  law,  and  also  by  his 
absolute  refusal  to  undertake  any  cause  which  he  did  not  con- 
scientiously consider  to  be  a  rightful  one.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  a  man  of  this  tested  high  principle  should  rapidly  rise  upon 
the  tide  of  merited  prosperity.  Under  the  circumstances  in 
which  More  was  now  placed,  his  practice  at  the  bar  became 
rapidly  extensive.  Everything  went  well  with  him.  Once  more 
he  was  drinking  the  wine  of  life. 

There  was  probably  no  brighter  home — brighter  in  present 
enjoyment,  or  more  brilliant  in  future  prospects — than  that  home 
in  Bucklersbury,  into  which  Erasmus,  jaded  by  the  journey, 
entered  on  his  arrival  from  Italy.  He  must  have  found  More 
and  his  gentle  wife  rejoicing  in  their  infant  son,  and  the  merry 
voices  of  three  little  daughters  echoing  the  joy  of  the  house.^ 


v.   ERASMUS   WRITES   THE       PRAISE   OF   FOLLY       WHILE 
RESTING   AT  MORE's   HOUSE  (1510   OR   1511) 

For  some  days  Erasmus  was  chained  indoors  by  an  attack  of 
a  painful  disease  to  which  he  had  for  long  been  subject.    His 

I  books  had  not  yet  arrived,  and  he  was  too  ill  to  admit  of  close 

1  application  of  any  kind. 

To  beguile  his  time,  he  took  pen  and  paper,  and  began  to 
write  down  at  his  leisure  the  satirical  reflections  on  men  and 
things  which,  as  already  mentioned,  had  grown  up  within  him 
during  his  recent  travels,  and  served  to  beguile  the  tedium  of  his 
journey  from  Italy  to  England.  It  was  not  done  with  any  grave 
design,  or  any  view  of  publication;  but  he  knew  his  friend  More 
was  fond  of  a  joke,  and  he  wanted  something  to  do,  to  take  his 
attention  from  the  weariness  of  the  pain  which  he  was  suffering. 
So  he  worked  away  at  his  manuscript.     One  day  when  More 

^  came  home  from  business,  bringing  a  friend  or  two  with  him,. 

I  Erasmus  brought  it  out  for  their  amusement.  The  fun  would 
be  so  much  the  greater,  he  thought,  when  shared  by  several 
together.  He  had  fancied  Folly  putting  on  her  cap  and  bells,, 
mounting  her  rostrum,  and  delivering  an  address  to  her  votaries 
on  the  affairs  of  mankind.  These  few  select  friends  having  heard 
what  he  had  already  written,  were  so  delighted  with  it  that  they 

^  More's  son  John — nineteen  in  1528,  according  to  Holbein's  sketch — 
I  was  probably  born  in  1509.  More's  three  daughters,  Margaret,  Elizabeth^ 
^  and  Cicely,  were  all  older. 


I20  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1510 

insisted  on  its  being  completed.  In  about  a  week  the  whole  was 
finished.    This  is  the  simple  history  of  the  Praise  of  Folly. 

It  was  a  satire  upon  follies  of  all  kinds.  The  bookworm  was 
smiled  at  for  his  lantern  jaws  and  sickly  look;  the  sportsman  for 
his  love  of  butchery;  the  superstitious  were  sneered  at  for  attri- 
buting strange  virtues  to  images  and  shrines,  for  worshipping 
another  Hercules  under  the  name  of  St.  George,  for  going  on 
pilgrimage  when  their  proper  duty  was  at  home.  The  wicked- 
ness of  fictitious  pardons  and  the  sale  of  indulgences,  the  folly  of 
prayers  to  the  Virgin  in  shipwreck  or  distress,  received  each  a 
passing  censure. 

Grammarians  were  singled  out  of  the  regiment  of  fools  as  the 
most  servile  votaries  of  folly.  They  were  described  as  *'  A  race 
of  men  the  most  miserable,  who  grow  old  in  penury  and  filth  in 
their  schools — schools,  did  I  say?  prisons!  dungeons!  I  should 
have  said — among  their  boys,  deafened  with  din,  poisoned  by  a 
foetid  atmosphere,  but,  thanks  to  their  folly,  perfectly  self- 
satisfied,  so  long  as  they  can  bawl  and  shout  to  their  terrified 
boys,  and  box,  and  beat,  and  flog  them,  and  so  indulge  in  all 
kinds  of  ways  their  cruel  disposition. 

After  criticising  with  less  severity  poets  and  authors,  rheto- 
ricians and  lawyers.  Folly  proceeded  to  re-echo  the  censure  of 
Colet  upon  the  dogmatic  system  of  the  Schoolmen. 

She  ridiculed  the  logical  subtlety  which  spent  itself  on  splitting 
hairs  and  disputing  about  nothing,  and  to  which  the  modem 
followers  of  the  Schoolmen  were  so  painfully  addicted.  She 
ridiculed,  too,  the  prevalent  dogmatic  philosophy  and  science, 
which  having  been  embraced  by  the  Schoolmen,  and  sanctioned 
by  ecclesiastical  authority,  Had  become  a  part  of  the  scholastic 
system.  "With  what  ease  do  they  dream  and  prate  of  the 
creation  of  innumerable  worlds,  measuring  sun,  moon,  stars,  and 
earth  as  though  by  a  thumb  and  thread;  rendering  a  reason  for 
thunder,  wind,  eclipses,  and  other  inexplicable  things ;  never 
hesitating  in  the  least,  just  as  though  they  had  been  admitted 
into  the  secrets  of  creation,  or  as  though  they  had  come  down  to 
us  from  the  council  of  the  Gods — with  whom,  and  whose  con- 
jectures, Nature  is  mightily  amused  !  " 

From  dogmatic  science  Folly  turned  at  once  to  dogmatic  theo- 
logy, and  proceeded  to  comment  in  her  severest  fashion  on  a 
class  whom,  she  observes,  it  might  have  been  safest  to  pass  over 
in  silence — divines.  "  Their  pride  and  irritability  are  such  (she 
said)  that  they  will  come  down  upon  me  with  their  six  hundred 
conclusions,  and  compel  me  to  recant;  and,  if  I  refuse,  declare 


I5IO]  The  "  Praise  of  Folly  "  I2i 

me  a^  heretic  forthwith.  .  .  .  They  explain  to  their  own  satis- 
faction the  most  hidden  mysteries:  how  the  universe  was  con- 
structed and  arranged — through  what  channels  the  stain  of 
original  sin  descends  to  posterity — how  the  miraculous  birth  of 
Christ  was  effected — how  in  the  Eucharistic  wafer  the  accidents 
can  exist  without  a  substance,  and  so  forth.  And  they  think 
themselves  equal  to  the  solution  of  such  questions  as  these: 
Whether  .  .  .  God  could  have  taken  upon  himself  the  nature  of 
a  woman,  a  devil,  an  ass,  a  gourd,  or  a  stone?  And  how  in  that 
case  a  gourd  could  have  preached,  worked  miracles,  and  been 
nailed  to  the  cross  ?  What  Peter  would  have  consecrated  if  he 
had  consecrated  the  Eucharist  at  the  moment  that  the  body  of 
Christ  was  hanging  on  the  Cross?  Whether  at  that  moment 
Christ  could  have  been  called  a  man?  Whether  we  shall  eat  and 
drink  after  the  resurrection?  "  In  a  later  edition  Folly  is  made 
to  say  further:  "These  Schoolmen  possess  such  learning  and 
subtlety  that  I  fancy  even  the  Apostles  themselves  would  need 
another  Spirit,  if  they  had  to  engage  with  this  new  race  of 
divines  about  questions  of  this  kind.  Paul  was  able  '  to  keep 
the  faith,'  but  when  he  said,  '  Faith  is  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,'  he  defined  it  very  loosely.  He  was  full  of  chanty,  but 
he  treated  of  it  and  defined  it  very  illogically  in  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  .  .  .  The  Apostles 
knew  the  mother  of  Jesus,  but  which  of  them  demonstrated  so 
philosophically  as  our  divines  do  in  what  way  she  was  preserved 
from  the  taint  of  original  sin?  Peter  received  the  keys,  and 
received  them  from  Him  who  would  not  have  committed  them 
to  one  unworthy  to  receive  them,  but  I  know  not  whether  he 
understood  (certainly  he  never  touched  upon  the  subtlety!)  in 
what  way  the  key  of  knowledge  can  be  held  by  a  man  who  has  no 
knowledge.  They  often  baptised  people,  but  they  never  taught 
what  is  the  formal,  what  the  material,  what  the  efficient,  and 
what  the  ultimate  cause  of  baptism;  they  say  nothing  of  its 
delible  and  indelible  character.  They  worshipped  indeed,  but 
in  spirit,  following  no  other  authority  than  the  gospel  saying, 
'  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that  worship  Him  must  worship  Him 
in  spirit  and  in  truth.'  But  it  hardly  seems  to  have  been  revealed 
to  them,  that  in  one  and  the  same  act  of  worship  the  picture  of 
Christ  drawn  with  charcoal  on  a  wall  was  to  be  adored,  as  well  as 
Christ  himself.  .  .  .  Again,  the  Apostles  spoke  of  '  grace,'  but 
they  never  distinguished  between  '  gratiam  gratis  datam,'  and 
*  gratiam  gratificantem.*  They  preached  charity,  but  did  not 
distinguish  between  charity  *  infused  '  and  '  acquired/  nor  did 


122  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1510 

they  explain  whether  it  was  an  accident  or  a  substance,  created 
or  wwcreated.  They  abhorred  sin,  but  I  am  a  fool  if  they  could 
define  scientifically  what  we  call  sin,  unless  indeed  they  were 
inspired  by  the  spirit  of  the  Scotists !  " 

After  pursuing  the  subject  further,  Folly  suggests  that  an 
army  of  them  should  be  sent  against  the  Turks,  not  in  the  hope 
that  the  Turks  might  be  converted  by  them  so  much  as  that 
Christendom  would  be  relieved  by  their  absence,  and  then  she 
is  made  quietly  to  say:  "  You  may  think  all  this  is  said  in  joke, 
but  seriously,  there  are  some,  even  amongst  divines  themselves, 
versed  in  better  learning,  who  are  disgusted  at  these  (as  they 
think)  frivolous  subtleties  of  divines.  There  are  some  who 
execrate,  as  a  kind  of  sacrilege,  and  consider  as  the  greatest 
impiety,  these  attempts  to  dispute  with  unhallowed  lips  and  pro- 
fane arguments  about  things  so  holy  that  they  should  rather  be 
adored  than  explained,  to  define  them  with  so  much  presumption, 
and  to  pollute  the  majesty  of  Divine  theology  with  cold,  yea  and 
sordid,  words  and  thoughts.  But,  in  spite  of  these,  with  the 
greatest  self-complacency  divines  go  on  spending  night  and  day 
over  their  fooHsh  studies,  so  that  they  never  have  any  leisure 
left  for  the  perusal  of  the  gospels,  or  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul." 

Finally,  Folly  exclaims,  "  Are  they  not  the  most  happy  of 
men  whilst  they  are  treating  of  these  things  ?  whilst  describing 
everything  in  the  infernal  regions  as  exactly  as  though  they  had 
lived  there  for  years?  whilst  creating  new  spheres  at  pleasure, 
one,  the  largest  and  most  beautiful,  being  finally  added,  that, 
forsooth,  happy  spirits  might  have  room  enough  to  take  a  walk, 
to  spread  their  feasts,  or  to  play  at  ball?  " 

With  this  allusion  to  the  "  empyrean  "  heavens  of  the  School- 
men, the  satire  of  Folly  upon  their  dogmatic  theology  reaches  its 
climax.    And  in  the  notes  added  by  Lystrius  to  a  later  edition, 
yiit  was  thus  further  explained  in  terms  which  aptly  illustrate  the 
■relation  of  theology  and  science  in  the  scholastic  system — 
f    "  The  ancients  beheved  ...  in  seven  spheres — one  to  each 
planet — and  to  these  they  added  the  one  sphere  of  the  fixed 
stars.    Next,  seeing  that  these  eight  spheres  had  two  motions, 
and  learning  from  Aristotle  that  only  one  of  these  motions 
affected  all  the  spheres,  they  were  compelled  to  regard  the  other 
motion  as  violent.    A  superior  sphere  could  not,  however,  be 
moved  in  its  violent  motion  by  an  inferior  one.     So  outside  all 
they  were  obliged  to  place  a  ninth  sphere,  which  they  called 
'  primum  mobile.'    To  these,  in  the  next  place,  divines  added  a 
ienthf  which  they  called  the  '  emp5Tean  sphere,'  as  though  the 


I5IO]  The  "  Praise  of  Folly  "  123 

saints  could  not  be  happy  unless  they  had  a  heaven  of  their 
own ! " 

And  that  the  ridicule  and  satire  of  Erasmus  were  aimed  at  the 
dogmatism  of  both  science  and  theology  is  further  pointed  out  in 
a  previous  note,  where  the  presumption  of  "  neoteric  divines  " 
in  attempting  to  account  for  everything,  however  mysterious,  is 
compared  to  the  way  in  which  "  astronomers,  not  being  able  to 
find  out  the  cause  of  the  various  motions  of  the  heavens,  con- 
structed eccentrics  and  epicycles  on  the  spheres." 

Thus  were  the  scholastic  divines  censured  for  just  those  faults 
to  which  the  eyes  of  Erasmus  had  been  opened  ten  years  before 
by  his  conversation  with  Colet  at  Oxford,  and  words  of  more 
bitter  satire  could  hardly  have  been  used  than  those  now  chosen. 

Monks  came  in  for  at  least  as  rough  a  handling.  There  is 
pefhaps'nb  more  severe  and  powerful  passage  anywhere  in  the 
whole  book  than  that  in  which  Folly  is  made  to  draw  a  picture 
of  their  appearance  on  the  Judgment  Day,  finding  themselves 
with  the  goats  on  the  left  hand  of  the  Judge,  pleading  hard  their 
rigorous  observance  of  the  rules  and  ceremonies  of  their  respec- 
tive orders,  but  interrupted  by  the  solemn  question  from  the 
Judge,  "  Whence  this  race  of  new  Jews?  I  know  only  of  one 
law  which  is  really  mine;  but  of  that  I  hear  nothing  at  all. 
When  on  earth,  without  mystery  or  parable,  I  openly  promised 
my  Father's  inheritance,  not  to  cowls,  matins,  or  fastings,  but  to 
the  practice  of  faith  and  charity.  I  know  you  not,  ye  who  know 
nothing  but  your  own  works.  Let  those  who  wish  to  be  thought 
more  holy  than  I  am  inhabit  their  newly-discovered  heavens; 
and  let  those  who  prefer  their  own  traditions  to  my  precepts, 
order  new  ones  to  be  built  for  them."  When  they  shall  hear 
this  (continues  Folly),  "  and  see  sailors  and  waggoners  preferred 
to  themselves,  how  do  you  think  they  will  look  upon  each  other?  " 

Kings,  princes,  and  courtiers  next  pass  under  review,  and  here 
again  may  be  traced  that  firm  attitude  of  resistance  to  royal 
tyranny  which  has  already  been  marked  in  the  conduct  of  More. 
If  More  in  his  congratulatory  verses  took  the  opportunity  of 
pubHcly  asserting  his  love  of  freedom  and  hatred  of  tyranny  in 
the  ears  of  the  new  King,  his  own  personal  friend,  as  he  mounted 
the  throne,  so  Erasmus  also,  although  come  back  to  England  full 
of  hope  that  in  Henry  VIII.  he  might  find  a  patron,  not  only  of 
learning  in  general  but  of  himself  in  particular,  took  this  oppor- 
tunity of  putting  into  the  mouth  of  Folly  a  similar  assertion  of  the 
sacred  rights  of  the  people  and  the  duties  of  a  king — 

"  It  is  the  duty  (she  suggests)  of  a  true  prince  to  seek  the 


124  "^^^  Oxford  Reformers  [isio 

public  and  not  his  own  private  advantage.  From  the  laws,  of 
which  he  is  both  the  author  and  executive  magistrate,  he  must 
not  himself  deviate  by  a  finger's  breadth.  He  is  responsible  for 
the  integrity  of  his  officials  and  magistrates.  .  .  .  But  (con- 
tinues Folly)  by  my  aid  princes  cast  such  cares  as  these  to  the 
winds,  and  care  only  for  their  own  pleasure.  .  .  .  They  think 
they  fill  their  position  well  if  they  hunt  with  diligence,  if  they 
keep  good  horses,  if  they  can  make  gain  to  themselves  by  the  sale 
of  offices  and  places,  if  they  can  daily  devise  new  means  of  under- 
mining the  wealth  of  citizens,  and  raking  it  into  their  own 
exchequer,  disguising  the  iniquity  of  such  proceedings  by  some 
specious  pretence  and  show  of  legality." 

If  the  memory  of  Henry  VII.  was  fresh  in  the  minds  of  More 
and  Erasmus,  so  also  his  courtiers  and  tools,  of  whom  Empson 
and  Dudley  were  the  recognised  types,  were  not  forgotten.  The 
cringing,  servile,  abject,  and  luxurious  habits  of  courtiers  were 
fair  game  for  Folly. 

From  this  cutting  review  of  kings,  princes,  and  courtiers,  the 
satire,  taking  a  still  bolder  flight,  at  length  swooped  down  to  fix 
its  talons  in  the  very  flesh  of  the  Pope  himself. 

The  Oxford  friends  had  some  personal  knowledge  of  Rome  and 
her  pontiffs.  When  Colet  was  in  Italy,  the  notoriously  wicked 
Alexander  VI.  was  Pope,  and  what  Colet  thought  of  him  has  been 
mentioned.  While  Erasmus  was  in  Italy  Julius  II.  was  Pope. 
He  had  succeeded  to  the  Papal  chair  in  1503. 

Julius  II.,  in  the  words  of  Ranke,  "  devoted  himself  to  the 
gratification  of  that  innate  love  of  war  and  conquest  which  was 
indeed  the  ruling  passion  of  his  Hfe.  ...  It  was  the  ambition  of 
Julius  II.  to  extend  the  dominions  of  the  Church.  He  must 
therefore  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  Papal  States."  ^ 
Erasmus,  during  his  recent  visit,  had  himself  been  driven  from 
Bologna  when  it  was  besieged  by  the  Roman  army,  led  by 
Julius  in  person.  He  had  written  from  Italy  that  "  literature 
was  giving  place  to  war,  that  Pope  Julius  was  warring,  conquer- 
ing, triumphing,  and  openly  acting  the  Caesar."  Mark  how 
aptly  and  boldly  he  now  hit  off  his  character  in  strict  accordance 
with  the  verdict  of  history,  when  in  the  course  of  his  satire  he 
came  to  speak  of  popes.     Folly  drily  observes  that — 

"  Although  in  the, gospel  Peter  is  said  to  have  declared,  'Lo, 

7ve  havel^t  all,  and  followed  thee;  yet  these  Popes  speak  of  5^. 

Peter's  patrimony,  as  consisting  of  lands,  towns,  tributes,  customs, 

lordships;  for  which,  when  their  zeal  for  Christ  is ^stirred^  they 

*  Ranke,  Hist,  of  the  Popes,  chap.  ii.  s.  i. 


I5IO]  The  "  Praise  of  Folly  ''  125 

fight  with  fire  and  sword  at  the  expense  of  much  Christian  blood, 
thinking  that  in  sa  doing  they  are  Apostolical  defenders  of 
Christ's  "spouse^  the  Church,  from  her  enemies.  As  though 
indeed  there  were  any  enemies  of  the  Church  more  pernicious 
than  impious  Popes !  .  .  .  Further,  as  the  Christian  Church  was 
founded  in  blood,  and  confirmed  by  blood,  and  advanced  by 
blood,  now  in  like  manner,  as  though  Christ  were  dead  and  could 
no  longer  defend  his  own,  they  take  to  the  sword.  And  although 
war  be  a  thing  so  savage  that  it  becomes  wild  beasts  rather  than 
men,  so  frantic  that  the  poets  feigned  it  to  be  the  work  of  the 
Furies,  so  pestilent  that  it  blights  at  once  all  morality,  so  unjust 
that  it  can  be  best  waged  by  the  worst  of  ruffians,  so  impious 
that  it  has  nothing  in  common  with  Christ,  yet  to  the  neglect  of 
everything  else  they  devote  themselves  to  war  alone." 

And  this  bold  satire  upon  the  warlike  passions  of  the  Pope  was 
made  still  more  direct  and  personal  by  what  followed.  To  quote 
Ranke  once  more:  "  Old  as  Julius  now  was,  worn  by  the  many 
vicissitudes  of  good  and  evil  fortune,  and  most  of  all  by  the  con- 
sequences of  intemperance  and  licentious  excess,  in  the  extremity 
of  age  he  still  retained  an  indomitable  spirit.  It  was  from  the 
tumults  of  a  general  war  that  he  hoped  to  gain  his  objects.  He 
desired  to  be  the  lord  and  master  of  the  game  of  the  world.  In 
furtherance  of  his  grand  aim  he  engaged  in  the  boldest  operations, 
risking  all  to  obtain  all."  ^  Compare  with  this  picture  of  the  old 
age  of  the  warlike  Pope  the  following  words  put  by  Erasmus  into 
the  mouth  of  Folly,  and  printed  and  read  all  over  Europe  in  the 
lifetime  of  Julius  himself ! 

"  Thus  you  may  see  even  decrepid  old  men  display  all  the 
vigour  of  youth,  sparing  no  cost,  shrinking  from  no  toil,  stopped 
by  nothing,  if  only  they  can  turn  law,  religion,  peace,  and  all 
human  affairs  upside  down." 

In  conclusion,  Folly,  after  pushing  her  satire  in  other  directions, 
was  made  to  apologise  for  the  bold  flight  she  had  taken.  If 
anything  she  had  said  seemed  to  be  spoken  with  too  much 
loquacity  or  petulance,  she  begged  that  it  might  be  remembered 
that  it  was  spoken  by  Folly.  But  let  it  be  remembered,  also,  she 
added,  that — 

A  fool  oft  speaks  a  seasonable  truth. 

She  then  made  her  bow,  and  descended  the  steps  of  her  rostrum, 
bidding  her  most  illustrious  votaries  farewell — valetCj  plaudtte, 
vivtte,  bibite  I 

^  Ranke,  Hist,  of  the  Popes,  chap.  ii.  s.  i  (abridged  quotation). 


1 

126  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1511  i 


Such  was  the  Praise  of  Folly ^  the  manuscript  of  which  was  J 
snatched  from  Erasmus  by  More  or  one  of  his  friends,  and  ulti-  i 
mately  sent  over  to  Paris  to  be  printed  there,  probably  in  the  i 
summer  of  1511,  and  to  pass  within  a  few  months  through  no  less 
than  seven  editions.^  \ 

Meanwhile,  after  recruiting  his  shattered  health  under  More's  | 
roof,  spending  a  few  months  with  Lord  Mount  joy  and  Warham,^  j 
and  paying  a  flying  visit  to  Paris,  it  would  seem  that  Erasmus,  '] 
aided  and  encouraged  by  his  friends,  betook  himself  to  Cam-  j 
bridge  to  pursue  his  studies,  hoping  to  be  able  to  eke  out  his  \ 
income  by  giving  lessons  in  the  Greek  language  to  such  pupils  as  I 
might  be  found  amongst  the  University  students  willing  to  learn  ; 
— the  chance  fees  of  students  being  supplemented  by  the  promise  j 
of  a  small  stipend  from  the  University.  ■ 

It  seems  to  have  been  taken  for  granted  that  the  "  new  learn-  \ 
ing  "  was  now  to  make  rapid  progress,  having  Henry  VIII.  for  j 
its  royal  patron,  and  Erasmus  for  its  professor  of  Greek  at  j 
Cambridge.  \ 

1  Erasmus  writes:  "  It  was  sent  over  into  France  by  the  arrangement  ] 
of  those  at  whose  instigation  it  was  WTitten,  and  there  printed  from  a  copy  ■, 
not  only  full  of  mistalies,  but  even  incomplete.  Upon  this  within  a  few  li 
months  it  was  reprinted  more  than  seven  times  in  different  places." —  ,■ 
Erasmi  ad  Dorpium  Apologia,  Louvain,  15 15.  .< 

After  staying  at  More's  house,  and  there  writing  the  book  itself,  he  may  ' 

have  added  the  prefatory  letter  "  Quinto  Idus  Junias,"  1510,  "  ex  rure."  i 

whilst  spending  a  few  months  with  Lord  Mountjoy,  as  we  learn  he  did  ' 

from  a  letter  to  Servatius  from  "  London  from  the  Bishop's  house "  < 

(Brewer,  No.  1418,  Epist.  cccclxxxv.,  under  date  1510),  it  is  most  probable  j 

that  in  1511  Erasmus  paid  a  visit  to  Paris,  being  at  Dover  April  10,  1511;  | 

at  Paris  April  27;   and  thus  was  there  when  the  first  edition  was  printed.  \ 

2  It  seems,  in  March  15 11,  Warham  gave  him  a  pension  out  of  the  \ 
rectory  of  Aldington.     Knight,  p.  155,  ; 


I5IO]  Colet's  Self-Sacrifice  127 


CHAPTER  VI 

I.   COLET   FOUNDS   ST.   PAUL's   SCHOOL  (1510) 

Fully  as  Colet  joined  his  friends  in  rejoicing  at  the  accession  to- 
the  throne  of  a  king  known  to  be  favourable  to  himself  and  his 
party,  he  had  drunk  by  far  too  deeply  of  the  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
to  admit  of  his  rejoicing  with  a  mere  courtier's  joy. 

Fortune  had  indeed  been  lavish  to  him.  His  elevation  un- 
asked to  the  dignity  of  Doctor  and  Dean;  the  popular  success 
of  his  preaching;  the  accession  of  a  friendly  king,  from  whom 
probably  further  promotion  was  to  be  had  for  the  asking;  and, 
lastly,  the  sudden  acquisition  on  his  father's  death  of  a  large 
independent  fortune  in  addition  to  the  revenues  of  the  deanery; 
here  was  a  concurrence  of  circumstances  far  more  likely  to  foster 
habits  of  selfish  ease  and  indulgence  than  to  draw  Colet  into  paths 
of  self-denial  and  self-sacrificing  labour.  Had  he  enlisted  in  the 
ranks  of  a  great  cause  in  the  hasty  zeal  of  enthusiasm,  it  had  had 
time  now  to  cool,  and  here  was  the  triumphal  arch  through  which 
the  abjured  hero  might  gracefully  retire  from  work  amidst  the 
world's  applause. 

But  Colet,  in  his  lectures  at  Oxford,  had  laid  great  stress  upon 
the  necessity  of  that  living  sacrifice  of  men's  hearts  and  lives 
without  which  all  other  sacrifices  were  empty  things,  and  it 
seems  that  after  he  was  called  to  the  deanery  he  gave  forth  "  A 
right  fruitfuU  Admonition  concerning  the  Order  of  a  good 
Christian  Man's  Life,"  ^  which  passed  through  many  editions 
during  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  which  he  made  use  of  the 
following  language — 

"  Thou  must  know  that  thou  hast  nothing  that  good  is  of 
thyself,  but  of  God.  For  the  gift  of  nature  and  all  other  temporal 
gifts  of  this  world  .  .  .  well  considered  have  come  to  thee  by  the 
infinite  goodness  and  grace  of  God,  and  not  of  thyself.  .  .  .  But 
in  especial  is  it  necessary  for  thee  to  know  that  God  of  his  great 
grace  has  made  thee  his  image,  having  regard  to  thy  memory, 
understanding,  and  free  will,  and  that  God  is  thy  maker,  and 
thou  his  wretched  creature,  and  that  thou  art  redeemed  of  God 
by  the  passion  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that  God  is  thy  helper,  thy 

^  "  A  right  fruitfull  Admonition  concerning  the  Order  of  a  good  Christian 
Man's  Life,  very  profitable  for  all  manner  of  Estates,  etc.,  made  by  the 
famous  Doctour  Colete  sometime  Deane  of  Paules.  Imprinted  at  London 
for  Gabriell  Cawood,  1577." — Brit.  Museum  Library. 


128  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1510 

refuge,  and  thy  deliverance  from  all  evil.  .  .  .  And,  therefore, 
think,  and  thank  God,  and  utterly  despise  thyself,  ...  in  that 
God  hath  done  so  much  for  thee,  and  thou  hast  so  often  offended 
his  highness,  and  also  done  Him  so  little  service.  And  therefore, 
by  his  infinite  mercy  and  grace,  call  unto  thy  remembrance  the 
degree  of  dignity  which  Almighty  God  hath  called  thee  unto,  and 
according  thereunto  yield  thy  debt,  and  do  thy  duty," 

Colet  was  not  the  man  to  preach  one  thing  and  practise 
another.  No  sooner  had  he  been  appointed  to  the  deanery  of 
St.  Paul's,  than  he  had  at  once  resigned  the  rich  Hving  of  Stepney,^ 
the  residence  of  his  father,  and  now  of  his  widowed  mother. 
And  no  sooner  had  his  father's  fortune  come  into  his  hands,  than 
he  earnestly  considered  how  most  effectually  to  devote  it  to  the 
cause  in  which  he  had  laboured  so  unceasingly  at  Oxford  and 
St.  Paul's. 

After  mature  deliberation  he  resolved,  whilst  living  and  in 
health,  to  devote  his  patrimony  ^  to  the  foundation  of  a  school 
in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  wherein  153  children,^  without  any 
restriction  as  to  nation  or  country,  who  could  already  read  and 
write,  and  were  of  "  good  parts  and  capacities,"  should  receive 
a  sound  Christian  education.  The  "  Latin  adulterate,  which 
ignorant  blind  fools  brought  into  this  world,"  poisoning  thereby 
"  the  old  Latin  speech,  and  the  very  Roman  tongue  used  in  the 
time  of  TuUy  and  Sallust,  and  Virgil  and  Terence,  and  learned 
by  St.  Jerome,  St.  Ambrose,  and  St.  Augustine," — all  that 
*'  abusion  which  the  later  blind  world  brought  in,  and  which 
may  rather  be  called  Blotterature  than  Literature," — should 
be  "  utterly  abanished  and  excluded  "  out  of  this  school.  The 
children  should  be  taught  good  literature,  both  Latin  and  Greek, 
"  such  authors  that  have  with  wisdom  joined  pure  chaste 
eloquence  " — "  specially  Christian  authors  who  wrote  their 
wisdom  in  clean  and  chaste  Latin,  whether  in  prose  or  verse; 
for,"  said  Colet,  "  my  intent  is  by  this  school  specially  to  increase 
knowledge,  and  worshipping  of  God  and  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  good  Christian  life  and  manners  in  the  children"  '^ 

And,  as  if  to  keep  this  end  always  prominently  in  view,  he 
placed  an  image  of  the  "  Child  Jesus,"  to  whom  the  school  was 

^  In  Sept.  1505.     Knight's    ife  of  Colet,  p.  265,  and  n.  a. 

^  Letter  of  Colet  to  Lilly,  dated  15 13,  prefixed  to  the  several  editions  of 
De  Ocio  Orationis  Partibus,  etc. 

2  The  number  of  the  "  miraculous  draught  of  fishes." 

*  Statutes  of  St.  Paul's  School.  Knight's  Life  of  Colet,  p.  364.  See 
also  the  letter  from  Colet  to  Lilly,  prefixed  to  the  Rudiments  of  Grammar ^ 
:i5io.     Knight's  Life  of  Colet,  p.  124,  n.  r.  _. 


isio]        Colet  Founds  St.  Paul's  School        129 

dedicated,  standing  over  the  master's  chair  in  the  attitude  of 
teaching,  with  the  motto,  "  Hear  ye  him;  "  and  upon  the  front  of 
the  building,  next  to  the  cathedral,  the  following  inscription: 
"  Schola  catechizationis  puerorum  in  Christi  Opt.  Max.  fide  et 
bonis  Literis.    Anno  Christi  MDX." 

The  building  consisted  of  one  large  room,  divided  into  an 
upper  and  lower  school  by  a  curtain,  which  could  be  drawn  at 
pleasure;  and  the  charge  of  the  two  schools  devolved  upon  a 
high-master  and  a  sub-master  respectively. 

The  forms  were  arranged  so  as  each  to  seat  sixteen  boys,  and 
were  provided  each  with  a  raised  desk,  at  which  the  head  boy  sat 
as  president.  The  building  also  embraced  an  entrance-porch 
and  a  little  chapel  for  divine  service.  Dwelling-houses  were 
erected,  adjoining  the  school,  for  the  residence  of  the  two  masters ; 
and  for  their  support  Colet  obtained,  in  the  spring  of  1510,  a 
royal  licence  to  transfer  to  the  Wardens  and  Guild  of  Mercers  in 
London,  real  property  to  the  value  of  £53  per  annum  (equivalent 
to  at  least  £530  of  present  money).  Of  this  the  headmaster  was 
to  receive  as  his  salary  £35  (say  £350)  and  the  under-master  £18 
(say  £180)  per  annum.  Three  or  four  years  after,  Colet  made 
provision  for  a  chaplain  to  conduct  divine  service  in  the  chapel, 
and  to  instruct  the  children  in  the  Catechism,  the  Articles  of  the 
faith,  and  the  Ten  Commandments — in  English;  and  ultimately, 
before  his  death,  he  appears  to  have  increased  the  amount  of  the 
whole  endowment  to  £122  (say  £1200)  per  annum.  So  that  it 
may  be  considered,  roughly,  that  the  whole  endowment,  includ- 
ing the  buildings,  cannot  have  represented  a  less  sum  than 
£30,000  or  £40,000  of  present  money. 

And  if  Colet  thus  sacrificed  so  much  of  his  private  fortune  to 
secure  a  liberal  (and  it  must  be  conceded  his  was  a  liberal)  pro- 
vision for  the  remuneration  of  the  masters  who  should  educate 
his  153  boys,  he  must  surely  have  had  deeply  at  heart  the  welfare 
of  the  boys  themselves.  And,  in  truth,  it  was  so.  Colet  was 
like  a  father  to  his  schoolboys.  It  has  indeed  been  assumed  that 
a  story  related  by  Erasmus,  to  exhibit  the  low  state  of  education 
and  the  cruel  severity  exercised  in  the  common  run  of  schools, 
was  intended  by  him  to  describe  the  severe  discipline  maintained 
by  Colet  and  his  masters;  but  I  submit  that  this  is  a  pure 
assumption,  without  the  least  shadow  of  proof,  and  contrary  to 
every  kind  of  probability.  The  story  itself  is  dark  enough  truly, 
and,  in  order  that  Colet's  name  may  be  cleared  once  for  all  from 
its  odium,  may  as  well  be  given  to  the  reader  as  it  is  found  in 
Erasmus's  work  On  the  Liberal  Education  of  Boys. 

£ 


130  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 10   ; 

It  occurs,  let  it  be  remembered,  in  a  work  written  by  Erasmus  i 

to  expose  and  hold  up  to  public  scorn  the  private  schools,  in-  i 

eluding  those  of  monasteries  and  colleges,  in  which  honest  ' 
parents  were  blindly  induced  to  place  their  children — at  the 

mercy,  it  might  be,  of  drunken   dames,  or  of  men  too  often  i 

without  knowledge,  chastity,  or  judgment.     It  was  a  work  in  • 

which  he  described  these  schools  as  he  had  described  them  in  his  \ 

Praise  of  Folly,  and  in  which  he  detailed  scandals  and  cruelty  too  j 

foul  to  be  translated,  with  the  express  object  of  enforcing  his  \ 

opinion,  that  if  there  were  to  be  any  schools  at  all,  they  ought  to  ' 

be  public  schools — in  fact,  precisely  such  schools  as  that  which  j 

Colet  was  establishing.    The  story  is  introduced  as  an  example  \ 

of  the  scandals  which  were  sometimes  perpetrated  by  incom-  1 

petent  masters,  in  schools  of  the  class  which  he  had  thus  harshly,  J 

but  not  too  harshly,  condemned.  "i 

After  saying  that  no  masters  were  more  cruel  to  their  boys  j 

than  those  who,  from  ignorance,  can  teach  them  least  (a  remark  A 

which  certainly  could  not  be  intended  to  refer  to  Colet's  head-  i 

master),  he  thus  proceeded: —  \ 

"  What  can  such  masters  do  in  their  schools  but  get  through  ■- 

the  day  by  flogging  and  scolding?     I  once  knew  a  divine,  and  i 

intimately  too — a  man  of  reputation — who  seemed  to  think  that  ■ 

no  cruelty  to  scholars  could  be  enough,  since  he  would  not  have  : 

any  but  flogging  masters.     He  thought  this  was  the  only  way  ^; 

to  crush  the  boys'  unruly  spirits,  and  to  subdue  the  wantonness  j 

of  their  age.    Never  did  he  take  a  meal  with  his  flock  without  \ 

making  the  comedy  end  in  a  tragedy.     So  at  the  end  of  the  meal  . 
one  or  other  boy  was  dragged  out  to  be  flogged.  ...  I  myself 

was  once  by  when,  after  dinner,  as  usual,  he  called  out  a  boy,  1 
I  should  think,  about  ten  years  old.    He  had  only  just  come 

fresh  from  his  mother  to  school.     His  mother,  it  should  be  said,  J 

was  a  pious  woman,  and  had  especially  commended  the  boy  to  .  1 

him.    But  he  at  once  began  to  charge  the  boy  with  unruliness,  X 

since  he  could  think  of  nothing  else,  and  must  find  something  to  \ 

flog  him  for,  and  made  signs  to  the  proper  official  to  flog  him.  f 

Whereupon  the  poor  boy  was  forthwith  floored  then  and  there,  \ 

and  flogged  as  though  he  had  committed  sacrilege.    The  divine  ] 

again  and  again  interposed,  '  That  will  do — that  will  do; '  but  J 

the  inexorable  executioner  continued  his  cruelty  till  the  boy  ., 

almost  fainted.    By  and  by  the  divine  turned  round  to  me  and  '} 

said,  '  He  did  nothing  to  deserve  it,  but  the  boys'  spirits  must  S 

be  subdued.'"            ...  \ 

This  is  the  story  which  we  are  told  it  would  be  difficult  to  apply  i 


I5IO]  Colet's  Latin  Grammar  131 

to  any  one  but  Colet/  as  though  Colet  were  the  only  "  divine  of 
reputation  "  ever  intimately  known  to  Erasmus !  or  as  though 
Erasmus  would  thus  hold  up  his  friend  Colet  to  the  scorn  of  the 
world ! 

The  fact  is  that  no  one  could  peruse  the  "  precepts  of  living  " 
laid  down  by  Colet  for  his  school  without  seeing  not  only  how 
practical  and  sound  were  his  views  on  the  education  of  the  heart, 
mind,  and  body  of  his  boys,  but  also  how  at  the  root  of  them  lay 
a  strong  undercurrent  of  warm  and  gentle  feelings,  a  real  love  of 
youth.^ 

In  truth,  Colet  was  fond  of  children,  even  to  tenderness. 
Erasmus  relates  that  he  would  often  remind  his  guests  and  his 
friends  how  that  Christ  had  made  children  the  examples  for  men, 
and  that  he  was  wont  to  compare  them  to  the  angels  above. 
And  if  any  further  proof  were  wanted  that  Colet  showed  even  a 
touching  tenderness  for  children,  it  must  surely  be  found  in  the 
following  "  lytell  proheme  "  to  the  Latin  Grammar  which  he 
wrote  for  his  school,  and  of  which  we  shall  hear  more  by 
and  by: — 

"  Albeit  many  have  written,  and  have  made  certain  intro- 
ductions into  Latin  speech,  called  Donates  and  Accidens,  in  Latin 
tongue  and  in  English;  in  such  plenty  that  it  should  seem  to 
suffice,  yet  nevertheless,  for  the  love  and  zeal  that  I  have  to  the 
new  school  of  Paul's,  and  to  the  childrSn  of  the  same,  I  have  also 
...  of  the  eight  parts  of  grammar  made  this  little  book.  .  .  . 
In  which,  if  any  new  things  be  of  me,  it  is  alonely  that  I  have 
put  these  '  parts  '  in  a  more  clear  order,  and  I  have  made  them 
a  little  more  easy  to  young  wits,  than  (methinketh)  they  were 
before:  judging  that  nothing  may  be  too  soft,  nor  too  familiar 
for  little  children,  specially  learning  a  tongue  unto  them  all 
strange.  In  which  little  book  I  have  left  many  things  out  of 
purpose,  considering  the  tenderness  and  small  capacity  of  little 
minds.  ...  I  pray  God  all  may  be  to  his  honour,  and  to  the 
erudition  and  profit  of  children,  my  countrymen  Londoners 
specially,  whom,  digesting  this  little  work,  I  had  always  before 
mine  eyes,  considering  more  what  was  for  them  than  to  show  any 

^  Knight's  Life  of  Colet,  p.  175,  and  copied  from  him  by  Jortin,  vol.  i. 
pp.  169,  170. 

^  Take  the  following  examples:  "Revere  thy  elders.  Obey  thy  su- 
periors. Be  a  fellow  to  thine  equals.  Be  benign  and  loving  to  thy 
mferiors.  Be  always  well  occupied.  Lose  no  time.  Wash  clean.  Be  no 
sluggard.  Learn  diligently.  Teach  what  thou  hast  learned  lovingly." — 
Colet's  Precepts  of  Living  for  the  Use  of  his  School.  Knight's  Life  of  Colet. 
Miscellanies,  No.  xi. 


132  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1510 

great  cunning;  willing  to  speak  the  things  often  before  spoken, 
in  such  manner  as  gladly  young  beginners  and  tender  wits  might 
take  and  conceive.  Wherefore  I  pray  you,  all  little  babes,  all 
little  children,  learn  gladly  this  little  treatise,  and  commend  it 
diligently  unto  your  memories,  trusting  of  this  beginning  that 
ye  shall  proceed  and  grow  to  perfect  literature,  and  come  at  the 
last  to  be  great  clerks.  And  lift  up  your  little  white  hands  for  me, 
which  prayeth  for  you  to  God,  to  whom  be  all  honour  and 
imperial  majesty  and  glory.    Amen." 

The  man  who,  having  spent  his  patrimony  in  the  foundation 
of  a  school,  could  write  such  a  preface  as  this  to  one  of  his  school- 
books,  was  not  likely  to  insist  "  upon  having  none  but  flogging 
masters." 

Moreover,  this  preface  was  followed  by  a  short  note,  addressed 
to  his  "  well-beloved  masters  and  teachers  of  grammar,"  in 
which,  by  way  of  apology  for  its  brevity,  and  the  absence  of  the 
endless  rules  and  exceptions  found  in  most  grammars,  he  tells 
them :  "  In  the  beginning  men  spake  not  Latin  because  such 
rules  were  made,  but,  contrariwise,  because  men  spake  such  Latin 
the  rules  were  made.  That  is  to  say,  Latin  speech  was  before 
the  rules,  and  not  the  rules  before  the  Latin  speech."  And 
therefore  the  best  way  to  learn  "  to  speak  and  write  clean  Latin 
is  busily  to  learn  and  read  good  Latin  authors,  and  note  how 
they  wrote  and  spoke."  •"  Wherefore,"  he  concludes,  "  after 
'  the  parts  of  speech  '  sufficiently  known  in  your  schools,  read  and 
expound  plainly  unto  your  scholars  good  authors,  and  show  to 
them  every  word,  and  in  every  sentence  what  they  shall  note 
and  observe;  warning  them  busily  to  follow  and  to  do  like,  both 
in  writing  and  in  speaking,  and  be  to  them  your  own  self  also, 
speaking  with  them  the  pure  Latin,  very  present,  and  leave  the 
rules.  For  reading  of  good  books,  diligent  information  of  taught 
masters,  studious  advertence  and  taking  heed  of  learners,  hear- 
ing eloquent  men  speak,  and  finally  busy  imitation  with  tongue 
and  pen,  more  availeth  shortly  to  get  the  true  eloquent  speech, 
than  all  the  traditions,  rules,  and  precepts  of  masters." 

Nor  would  it  seem  that  Colet's  first  headmaster,  at  all  events, 
failed  to  appreciate  the  practical  commonsense  and  gentle  regard 
for  the  "  tenderness  of  little  minds,"  which  breathes  through 
these  prefaces;  for  at  the  end  of  them  he  himself  added  this 
epigram: — 

Pocula  si  linguae  cupias  gust  are  Latinae, 
Quale  tibi  monstret,  ecce  Coletus  iter! 
Non  per  Caucaseos  montes,  aut  summa  Pyrene; 
Te  ista  per  Hybleos  sed  via  ducit  agros. 


I5II]         Schoolbooks  and  Schoolmasters       133 

II.  HIS  CHOICE  OF  SCHOOLBOOKS  AND  SCHOOLMASTERS  (1511) 

The  mention  of  Colet's  Latin  Grammar  suggests  one  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  carrying  out  of  his  projected  school,  his 
mode  of  surmounting  which  was  characteristic  of  the  spirit  in 
which  he  worked.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  he  should  find 
the  schoolbooks  of  the  old  grammarians  in  any  way  adapted  to 
his  purpose.  So  at  once  he  set  his  learned  friends  to  work  to 
provide  him  with  new  ones.  The  first  thing  wanted  was  a  Latin 
Grammar  for  beginners.  Linacre  undertook  to  provide  this 
want,  and  wrote  with  great  pains  and  labour  a  work  in  six  books, 
which  afterwards  came  into  general  use.  But  when  Colet  saw 
it,  at  the  risk  of  displeasing  his  friend,  he  put  it  altogether  aside. 
It  was  too  long  and  too  learned  for  his  "  little  beginners."  So 
he  condensed  within  the  compass  of  a  few  pages  two  little 
treatises,  an  Accidence  and  a  Syntax,  in  the  preface  to  the  first 
of  which  occur  the  gentle  words  quoted  above.  These  little 
books,  after  receiving  additions  from  the  hands  of  Erasmus,  Lilly, 
and  others,  finally  became  generally  adopted  and  known  as 
Lillys  Grammar. 

This  rejection  of  his  grammar  seems  to  have  been  a  sore  point 
with  Linacre,  but  Erasmus  told  Colet  not  to  be  too  much  con- 
cerned about  it:  he  would,  he  said,  get  over  it  in  time,  which 
probably  he  did  much  sooner  than  Colet's  school  would  have  got 
over  the  loss  which  would  have  been  inflicted  by  the  adoption  of 
a  schoolbook  beyond  the  capacity  of  the  boys. 

Erasmus,  in  the  same  letter  in  which  he  spoke  of  Linacre's 
rejected  grammar,  told  Colet  that  he  was  working  at  his  De 
Copid  Verborum,  which  he  was  writing  expressly  for  Colet's 
school.  He  told  him,  too,  that  he  had  sometimes  to  take  up 
the  cudgels  for  him  against  the  "  Thomists  and  Scotists  of 
Cambridge;  "  that  he  was  looking  out  for  an  under-schoolmaster, 
but  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  finding  one.  Meanwhile  he  en- 
closed a  letter,  in  which  he  had  put  on  paper  his  notions  of 
what  a  schoolmaster  ought  to  be,  and  the  best  method  of  teach- 
ing boys,  which  he  fancied  Colet  might  not  altogether  approve, 
as  he  was  wont  somewhat  more  to  despise  rhetoric  than  Erasmus 
did.    He  stated  his  opinion  that — 

"  In  order  that  the  teacher  might  be  thoroughly  up  to  his 
work,  he  should  not  merely  be  a  master  of  one  particular  branch 
of  study.  He  should  himself  have  travelled  through  the  whole 
circle  of  knowledge.  In  philosophy  he  should  have  studied 
Plato  and  Aristotle,  Theophrastus  and  Plotinus;  in  Theology 


134  The  Oxford  Reformers  [151 1 

the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  after  them  Origen,  Chrysostom, 
and  Basil  among  the  Greek  fathers,  and  Ambrose  and  Jerome 
among  the  Latin  fathers;  among  the  poets,  Homer  and  Ovid; 
in  geography,  which  is  very  important  in  the  study  of  history, 
Pomponius  Mela,  Ptolemy,  Pliny,  Strabo.  He  should  know  what 
ancient  names  of  rivers,  mountains,  countries,  cities,  answer 
the  modern  ones;  and  the  same  of  trees,  animals,  instruments, 
clothes,  and  gems,  with  regard  to  which  it  is  incredible  how 
ignorant  even  educated  men  are.  He  should  take  note  of  little 
facts  about  agriculture,  architecture,  military  and  culinary  arts, 
mentioned  by  different  authors.  He  should  be  able  to  trace  the 
origin  of  words,  their  gradual  corruption  in  the  languages  of  Con- 
stantinople, Italy,  Spain,  and  France.  Nothing  should  be  beneath 
his  observation  which  can  illustrate  history  or  the  meaning  of  the 
poets.  But  you  will  say  what  a  load  you  are  putting  on  the 
back  of  the  poor  teacher!  It  is  so;  but  I  burden  the  one  to 
relieve  the  many.  I  want  the  teacher  to  have  traversed  the 
whole  range  of  knowledge,  that  it  may  spare  each  of  his  scholars 
doing  it.  A  diligent  and  thoroughly  competent  master  might 
give  boys  a  fair  proficiency  in  both  Latin  and  Greek,  in  a  shorter 
time  and  with  less  labour  than  the  common  run  of  pedagogues 
take  to  teach  their  babble."  ^ 

On  receipt  of  this  letter  and  its  enclosure,  Colet  wrote  to 
Erasmus : — 

Colet  to  Erasmus 

"  London,  15 ii. 

"  *  What !  I  shall  not  approve ! '  So  you  say !  What  is 
there  of  Erasmus's  that  I  do  not  approve?  I  have  read  your 
letter  De  Studiis  hastily,  for  as  yet  I  have  been  too  busy  to 
read  it  carefully.  Glancing  through  it,  not  only  do  I  approve 
everything,  but  also  greatly  admire  your  genius,  skill,  learning, 
fulness,  and  eloquence.  I  have  often  longed  that  the  boys  of 
my  school  should  be  taught  in  the  way  in  which  you  say  they 
should  be.  And  often  also  have  I  longed  that  I  could  get  such 
teachers  as  you  have  so  well  described.  When  I  came  to  that 
point  at  the  end  of  the  letter  where  you  say  that  you  could  edu- 
cate boys  up  to  a  fair  proficiency  in  both  tongues  in  fewer  years 
than  it  takes  those  pedagogues  to  teach  their  babble,  0  Erasmus, 
how  I  longed  that  I  could  make  you  the  master  of  my  school !  I 
have  indeed  some  hope  that  you  will  give  us  a  helping  hand  in 
teaching  our  teachers  when  you  leave  those  '  Cantabrigians.' 
*  The  above  translation  is  greatly  abridged. 


I5II]  Colet's  Schoolmasters  135 

"  With  respect  to  our  friend  Linacre,  I  will  follow  your 
advice,  so  kindly  and  prudently  given. 

"  Do  not  give  up  looking  for  an  undermaster,  if  there  should 
be  any  one  at  Cambridge  who  would  not  think  it  beneath  his 
dignity  to  be  under  the  headmaster. 

"As  to  what  you  say  about  your  occasional  skirmishes  with 
the  ranks  of  the  Scotists  on  my  behalf,  I  am  glad  to  have  such  a 
champion  to  defend  me.  But  it  is  an  unequal  and  inglorious  con- 
test for  you ;  for  what  glory  is  it  to  you  to  put  to  rout  a  cloud  of 
flies?  What  thanks  do  you  deserve  from  me  for  cutting  down 
reeds  ?    It  is  a  contest  more  necessary  than  glorious  or  difficult !  " 

While  Colet  acquiesced  in  the  view  expressed  by  Erasmus 
as  to  the  high  qualities  required  in  a  schoolmaster,  he  gave 
practical  proof  of  his  sense  of  the  dignity  of  the  calling  by  the 
liberal  remuneration  he  offered  to  secure  one. 

At  a  time  when  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  England  received  as 
his  salary  100  marks,  with  a  similar  sum  for  the  commons  of 
himself  and  his  clerk,  making  in  all  £133  per  annum,^  Colet 
offered  to  the  high-master  of  his  school  £35  per  annum,  and  a  house 
to  live  in  besides.  This  was  practical  proof  that  Colet  meant 
to  secure  the  services  of  more  than  a  mere  common  grammarian. 
He  had  in  view  for  his  headmaster,  Lilly,  the  friend  and  fellow- 
student  of  More,  who  had  mastered  the  Latin  language  in  Italy, 
and  even  travelled  farther  East  to  perfect  his  knowledge  of 
Greek.  He  was  well  versed  not  only  in  the  Greek  authors,  but 
in  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  people,  having  lived  some 
years  in  the  island  of  Rhodes.  He  had  returned  home,  it  is  said, 
by  way  of  Jerusalem,  and  had  recently  opened  a  private  school 
in  London.  He  was,  moreover,  the  godson  of  Grocyn,  and 
himself  an  Oxford  student.  He  had  at  one  time,  as  already 
mentioned,  shared  with  More  some  ascetic  tendencies,  but, 
like  his  friend,  had  wisely  stopped  short  of  Carthusian  vows. 
He  was,  in  truth,  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Colet 
and  his  friends,  and,  in  the  opinion  of  Erasmus,  "  a  thorough 
master  in  the  art  of  educating  youth."  Thus  Colet  had  found 
a  high-master  ready  to  be  fully  installed  in  his  office,  as  soon 
as  the  building  was  completed.  But  an  under-master  was  not 
so  easy  to  find.  Colet  had  written  to  Erasmus,  in  September 
151 1,  wishing  him  to  look  one  out  for  him,  and  in  the  letter  last 

1  In  4  Henry  VIII.  (1513)  Lord  Chancellor  Warham  received  100  marks 
salary,  and  100  marks  for  commons  of  himself  and  clerk — 200  marks,  or 
£133.     Brewer,  i.  Introduction,  cviii.  note  (3). 


136  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15" 

quoted  had  again  repeated  his  request.  Erasmus  wrote  again 
in  October,  and  informed  him  that  he  had  mentioned  his  want 
to  some  of  the  college  dons.  One  of  them  had  replied  by  sneer- 
ingly  asking,  "  Who  would  put  up  with  the  hfe  of  a  schoolmaster 
who  could  get  a  living  in  any  other  way?  "  Whereupon  Eras- 
mus modestly  urged  that  he  thought  the  education  of  youth 
was  the  most  honourable  of  all  callings,  and  that  there  could  be 
no  labour  more  pleasing  to  God  than  the  Christian  training  of 
boys.  At  which  the  Cambridge  doctor  turned  up  his  nose  in 
contempt,  and  scornfully  replied,  "If  any  one  wants  to  give 
himself  up  entirely  to  the  service  of  Christ,  let  him  enter 
a  monastery!"  Erasmus  ventured  to  question  whether  St. 
Paul  did  not  place  true  religion  rather  in  works  of  charity — in 
doing  as  much  good  as  possible  to  our  neighbours?  The  other 
rejected  altogether  so  crude  a  notion.  "  Behold,"  said  he, 
*'  we  must  leave  all;  in  that  is  perfection."  "  He  scarcely  can 
be  said  to  leave  all,"  promptly  returned  Erasmus,  "  who,  when 
he  has  a  chance  of  doing  good  to  others,  refuses  the  task  because 
it  is  too  humble  in  the  eyes  of  the  world."  "  And  then,"  wrote 
Erasmus,  "  lest  I  should  get  into  a  quarrel,  I  bade  the  man 
good-bye." 

This,  he  said,  was  an  example  of  "  Scotistical  wisdom,"  and 
he  told  Colet  that  he  did  not  care  often  to  meddle  with  these 
self-satisfied  Scotists,  well  knowing  that  no  good  would  come  of  it. 

It  would  seem  that,  after  all,  a  worthy  under-master  did  turn 
up  at  Cambridge,  willing  to  work  under  Lilly,  and  thereafter 
to  become  his  son-in-law;^  so  that  with  schoolmasters  already 
secured,  and  schoolbooks  in  course  of  preparation,  Colet's  enter- 
prise seemed  Hkely  fairly  to  get  under  way  so  soon  as  the  building 
should  be  completed  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard. 

1  John  Ritwyse,  or  Rightwyse. 


I5I2]  Convocation  of  I  5  1 2  137 


CHAPTER  VII 

I.    CONVOCATION   FOR  THE   EXTIRPATION   OF   HERESY  (1512) 

Colet's  labours  in  connection  with  his  school  did  not  interfere 
with  his  ordinary  duties.  He  was  still,  Sunday  after  Sunday, 
preaching  those  courses  of  sermons  on  "  the  Gospels,  the 
Apostles'  Creed,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,"  which  attracted  by 
their  novelty  and  unwonted  earnestness  so  many  listeners.  The 
Dean  was  no  Lollard  himself,  yet  those  whose  leanings  were 
toward  Lollard  views  naturally  found,  in  Colet's  simple  Scrip- 
ture teaching  from  his  pulpit  at  St.  Paul's,  what  they  felt  to 
be  the  food  for  which  they  were  in  search,  and  which  they  did 
not  get  elsewhere.  They  were  wont,  it  seems,  to  advise  one 
another  to  go  and  hear  Dr.  Colet;  and  it  was  not  strange  if,  in 
the  future  examination  of  heretics,  a  connection  should  be  traced 
between  Colet's  sermons  and  the  increase  of  heresy.^  That 
heresy  was  on  the  increase  could  not  be  doubted.  Foxe  has 
recorded  that  several  Lollards  suffered  in  151 1  under  Arch- 
bishop Warham,  and,  strange  to  say,  Colet's  name  appears  on 
the  list  of  judges.^  Foxe  also  mentions  no  fewer  than  twenty- 
three  heretics  who  were  compelled  by  Fitzjames,  Bishop  of 
London,  to  abjure  during  15 10  and  151 1.  And  so  zealous  was 
the  Bishop  in  his  old  age  against  them  that  he  burned  at  least 
two  of  them  in  Smithfield  during  the  autumn  of  1511.^  So 
common,  indeed,  were  these  martyr-fires,  that  Ammonius,  Latin 
secretary  to  Henry  VIIL,  writing  from  London,  a  few  weeks  after, 
to  Erasmus  at  Cambridge,  could  jestingly  say,  that  "  he  does 
not  wonder  that  wood  is  so  scarce  and  dear,  the  heretics  cause 
so  many  holocausts;  and  yet  (he  said)  their  numbers  grow — 
nay,  even  the  brother  of  Thomas,  my  servant,  dolt  as  he  is,  has 
himself  founded  a  sect,  and  has  his  disciples." 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  a  royal  mandate  was 
issued,  in  November  151 1,  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to 
summon  a  convocation  of  his  province  to  meet  in  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  February  6, 15 12. 

1  "  Moreover,  that  Thomas  Geffrey  caused  this  John  Butler  divers 
Sundays  to  go  to  London  to  hear  Dr.  Colet." — Foxe,  ed.  1597,  p.  756. 

*  Ibid.  p.  1 1 62. 

^William  Sweeting  and  John  Brewster,  on  October  18,  1511. — Ibid. 
p.  756. 


138 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 12 


The  King — under  the  instigation,  it  was  thought,  of  Wolsey 
— was  just  then  entering  into  a  treaty  with  the  Pope  and  other 
princes  with  a  view  to  warlike  proceedings  against  France;  and 
the  King's  object  in  calling  this  convocation  was  doubtless  to 
procure  from  the  clergy  their  share  of  the  taxation  necessary  to 
meet  the  expenses  of  equipping  an  army,  which  it  was  conve- 
nient to  represent  as  required  "  for  the  defence  of  the  Church 
as  well  as  the  kingdom  of  England;  "  but  there  was  another 
object  for  which  a  convocation  was  required  besides  this  of 
taxation — one  more  palatable  to  Bishop  Fitzjames  and  his 
party — that  of  the  extirpation  of  heresy. 

On  Friday,  February  6,  15 12,  members  of  both  Houses  of 
Convocation  assembled,  it  would  seem,  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral, 
to  listen  to  the  sermon  by  which  it  was  customary  that  their 
proceedings  should  be  opened. 

Dean  Colet  was  charged  by  the  Archbishop  with  the  duty  of 
preaching  this  opening  address. 

It  was  a  task  by  no  means  to  be  envied,  but  Colet  was  not 
the  man  to  shirk  a  duty  because  it  was  unpleasant.  He  had 
accepted  the  deanery  of  St.  Paul's  not  simply  to  wear  its  dig- 
nities and  enjoy  its  revenues,  but  to  do  its  duties;  and  one  of 
those  duties,  perhaps  the  one  to  which  he  felt  himself  most  clearly 
called,  had  been  the  duty  of  preaching.  Probably,  there  was 
not  a  pulpit  in  England  which  offered  so  wide  a  sphere  of 
influence  to  the  preacher  as  that  of  St.  Paul's. 

The  noble  cathedral  itself  was  then,  in  a  sense  which  can 
hardly  be  realised  now,  the  centre  of  the  metropolis  of  England, 
In  architectural  merits,  in  vastness,  and  in  the  beauty  of  its 
proportions,  it  was  rivalled  by  few  in  the  world;  but  it  was 
not  from  these  alone  that  it  derived  its  importance.  Under  the 
shadow  of  its  gracefully-tapering  spire,  534  feet  in  height,  its  nave 
and  choir  and  presbytery  extended  700  feet  in  one  long  line  of 
Gothic  arches,  broken  only  by  the  low  screen  between  the  nave 
and  choir.  And  pacing  up  and  down  this  nave  might  be  seen 
men  of  every  class  in  life,  from  the  merchant  and  the  courtier 
down  to  the  mendicant  and  the  beggar.  *S/.  PauVs  Walk  was 
like  a  'change,  thronged  by  men  of  business  and  men  of  the 
world,  congregated  there  to  hear  the  news,  or  to  drive  their 
bargains ;  while  in  the  long  aisles  kneeled  the  devotees  of  saints 
or  Virgin,  paying  their  devotions  at  shrines  and  altars,  loaded 
with  costly  offerings  and  burning  tapers;  and  in  the  chantries 
priests  in  monotonous  tones  sang  masses  for  departed  souls. 

In  this  cathedral  had  Colet  preached  now  for  seven  successive 


I5I2]  Colet's  Sermons  at  St.  PauFs         139 

years.  He  had  preached  to  the  humblest  classes  in  their  own 
English  tongue/  and  in  order  to  bring  down  his  teaching  to  their 
level,  had  given  them  an  English  translation  of  the  Paternoster 
for  their  use.  He  had  seen  them  kneeling  before  the  shrines, 
and  had  faithfully  warned  them  against  the  worship  of  images. 
He  had  preached  to  the  merchants  and  citizens  of  London,  and 
they  had  recognised  in  him  a  preacher  who  practised  what  he 
preached,  whose  life  did  not  give  the  lie  to  what  he  taught;  and 
he  had  done  all  this  in  spite  of  any  talk  his  plain-speaking 
might  create  amongst  the  orthodox,  and  notwithstanding  the 
open  opposition  of  his  bishop.  If  poor  Lollards  found  in  him 
an  earnestness  and  simple  faith  they  did  not  find  elsewhere,  he 
knew  that  it  was  not  his  fault.  It  was  not  he  who  was  making 
heretics  so  fast,  but  the  priests  and  bishops  themselves,  who 
were  driving  honest  souls  into  heretical  ways  by  the  scandal  of 
their  worldly  living,  and  the  pride  and  dryness  of  their  orthodox 
profession.  And  now,  when  he  was  called  upon  to  preach  to 
these  very  priests  and  bishops,  was  he  to  shrink  from  the  task  ? 

Colet  had  already,  in  his  lectures  at  Oxford,  given  expression 
to  the  pain  which  ecclesiastical  scandals  had  given  him;  and  in 
his  abstracts  of  the  Dionysian  treatises  he  had  recorded,  with 
grief  and  tears,  his  longings  for  ecclesiastical  reform.  These, 
however,  had  never  been  printed.  They  lay  in  manuscript  in 
his  own  hands,  and  could  easily  be  suppressed.  It  remained 
to  be  seen  whether  seven  years'  enjoyment  of  his  own  prefer- 
ment had  closed  his  Hps  to  the  utterance  of  unpopular  truths. 

If  it  were  possible  so  far  to  look  behind  the  screen  of  the  past 
as  to  see  the  bishops  of  the  province  of  Canterbury  with  the  sight 
and  knowledge  of  Colet,  as  he  saw  them  assembled  at  St.  Paul's 
on  that  Friday  morning,  then,  and  then  only,  would  it  be  possible 
to  appreciate  fairly  what  it  must  have  cost  him  to  preach  the 
sermon  he  did  on  this  occasion. 

The  Archbishop  and  some  of  the  bishops  were  friends  of  his 
and  of  the  new  learning;  but  even  some  of  these  were  so  far 
carried  away  by  the  habits  of  the  times  as  to  fall  inevitably 
under  the  censure  of  any  honest  preacher  who  should  dare  to 
apply  the  Christian  standard  to  their  episcopal  conduct.    There 

*  That  Colet  preached  in  English,  see  the  remark  of  Erasmus  that  he 
had  studied  English  authors  in  order  to  polish  his  style  and  to  prepare 
himself  for  preaching  the  gospel. — Eras.  Op.  iii.  p.  456,  B.  It  may  also 
be  inferred  from  the  Lollards  going  to  hear  his  sermons.  In  his  rules  for 
his  school  he  directed  that  the  chaplain  should  instruct  the  children  in  the 
Catechism  and  the  Articles  of  the  faith  and  the  Ten  Commandments  in 
English. — Knight's  Life  of  Colet.     Miscellanies,  Num.  v.  p.  361. 


140  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1512 

might  be  honourable  exceptions  to  the  rule,  but,  as  a  rule,  the 
bishops  looked  upon  their  sees  as  property  conferred  upon  them 
often  for  political  services,  or  as  the  natural  result  of  family 
position  or  influence.  The  pastoral  duties  which  properly- 
belonged  to  their  position  were  too  often  lost  sight  of.  A 
bishopric  was  a  thing  to  be  sued  for  or  purchased  by  money  or 
influence.  It  mattered  little  whether  the  aspirant  were  a  boy 
or  a  grey-headed  old  man,  whether  he  lived  abroad  or  in  Eng- 
land, whether  he  were  illiterate  or  educated.  There  was  one 
bishop,  for  instance,  whom  Erasmus  speaks  of  as  a  "  youth,"  and 
who  was  so  illiterate  that  he  had  offered  Erasmus  a  benefice 
and  a  large  sum  of  money  if  he  would  undertake  his  tuition  for 
a  year — a  bribe  which  Erasmus,  albeit  at  the  time  anxiously 
seeking  remunerative  work  of  a  kind  which  would  not  interfere 
with  his  studies,  refused  with  contempt.^  Then  there  was 
James  Stanley,  an  old  man,  whose  only  title  to  preferment  was 
his  connection  with  the  royal  family  and  a  noble  house,  who, 
in  spite  of  his  absolute  unfitness,  had  been  made  Bishop  of  Ely 
in  1506,  and  was  now  living,  it  is  said,  a  life  of  open  profligacy, 
to  the  great  scandal  of  the  English  Church  and  of  the  noble 
house  to  which  he  belonged. 

There  was  a  bishop,  too,  whom  More  satirised  repeatedly  in 
his  epigrams,  under  the  name  of  "  Posthumus;  "  at  whose  pro- 
motion he  expresses  his  delight,  inasmuch  as,  whilst  bishops 
were  "  generally  selected  at  random,  this  bishop  had  evidently 
been  chosen  with  exceptional  care.  If  an  error  had  been  made 
in  this  case,  it  could  not  certainly  have  arisen  from  haste  in 
selection;  for  had  the  choice  been  made  out  of  a  thousand,  a 
worse  or  more  stupid  bishop  could  not  possibly  have  been  found !  " 
From  another  epigram  it  may  be  inferred  that  this  "  Posthumus  " 
was  one  of  the  ignorant  Scotists  whose  opposition  the  Oxford 
Reformers  had  so  often  to  combat;  for  More  represents  him  as 
fond  of  quoting  the  text,  The  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life 
— the  text  which  is  mentioned  by  Tyndale  as  quoted  by  the 
Scotists  against  the  hteral  interpretation  of  Scripture; — and 
then  he  drily  remarks,  that  this  bishop  was  too  illiterate  for  any 
"  letters  to  have  killed  him,  and  that,  if  they  had,  he  had  no  spirit 
to  bring  him  to  life  again !  "  ^ 

^  Erasmus  to  Werner.  The  person  alluded  to  in  this  letter  was  clearly 
not  James  Stanley,  as  has  sometimes  been  assumed. 

*  There  is  no  reason,  I  think,  to  conclude  that  Mora's  satire  was  directed 
in  these  epigrams  against  the  Bishop  of  Ely.  There  may  have  been  plenty 
of  Scotists  whom  the  cap  might  fit  as  well,  or  better.  In  the  same  year 
that  Stanley  was  made  Bishop  of  Ely,  Fitzjames  was  made  Bishop  oi 


ISI2]        The  Bishops  and  their  Benefices      141 

These  may,  indeed,  have  been  exceptional  or,  at  all  events, 
extreme  cases;  but,  however  the  bishops  of  the  province  of 
Canterbury  had  come  by  their  bishoprics,  their  general  practice 
seems  to  have  been  to  use  their  benefices  only  as  stepping-stones 
to  higher  ones.  No  sooner  were  they  promoted  to  one  see  than 
they  aspired  to  another,  of  higher  rank  and  greater  revenue. 
This,  at  least,  was  no  exceptional  thing.  The  Bishop  of  Bath 
and  Wells  had  been  Bishop  of  Hereford ;  the  Bishop  of  Chichester 
had  been  translated  from  the  see  of  St.  David's.  The  Bishop 
of  Lincoln  had  been  Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry.  Audley 
had  filled  the  sees  of  Rochester  and  Hereford  in  succession,  and 
was  now  Bishop  of  Salisbury.  Fitzjames  had  been  first  pro- 
moted to  the  see  of  Rochester,  after  that  to  the  see  of  Chichester, 
and  from  thence,  in  his  old  age,  to  the  most  lucrative  of  all — 
the  see  of  London.  Fox  had  commenced  his  episcopal  career 
as  Bishop  of  Exeter;  he  had  from  thence  been  translated,  in 
succession,  to  the  sees  of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  Durham,  and  was 
now  Bishop  of  Winchester.  And  be  it  remembered  that  these 
numerous  promotions  were  not  in  reward  for  the  successful 
discharge  of  pastoral  duties:  those  who  had  earned  the  most 
numerous  and  rapid  promotions  were  the  men  who  were  the 
most  deeply  engaged  in  political  affairs,  sent  on  embassies,  and  so 
forth,  whose  benefices  were  the  reward  of  purely  secular  services, 
and  who,  consequently,  had  hardly  had  a  chance  of  discharging 
with  diligence  their  spiritual  duties.  The  Bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells  was  a  foreigner,  and  lived  abroad ;  and  so  also  the  Bishop 
of  Worcester  owed  his  bishopric  to  Papal  provision,  and  lived 
and  died  at  Rome.  His  predecessor  and  his  successor  also  both 
were  foreigners. 

There  was  also,  amongst  the  clergy  of  the  province  of  Canter- 
bury, a  man  who  was  to  surpass  all  others  in  these  particulars; 
who  was  to  be  handed  down  to  posterity  as  the  very  type  of  an 
ambitious  churchman;  who  was  already  high  in  royal  favour, 
always  engaged  in  political  affairs,  and  considered  to  be  the 
instigator  of  the  approaching  war;  who  had  the  whole  charge  of 
equipping  the  army  committed  to  his  care ;  who  had  lately  been 
promoted  to  the  deanery  of  Lincoln,  and  was  waiting  for  the 
bishopric  as  soon  as  it  should  be  vacant;  who  had  already  had 
conferred  upon  him,  in  addition  to  the  deanery,  two  rectories,  a 
prebend,  and  a  canonry;   who,  before  another  year  was  out, 

London.  The  late  Dean  Milman  [Annals  of  St.  PauVs,  p.  120)  shows,  how- 
ever, that  Fitzjames  was  not  unlearned,  as  he  had  been  Warden  of  Merton 
and  Vice-chancellor  of  Oxford. 


142  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1512 

without  giving  up  any  of  these  preferments,  was  to  be  made 
Dean  of  York;  and  who  was  destined  to  aspire  from  bishopric  to 
archbishopric,  to  hold  abbeys  and  bishoprics  in  commendam,  sue 
for  and  obtain  from  the  Pope  a  cardinal's  hat  and  legatine 
authority,  and  to  rule  England  in  Church  and  State — England's 
king  amongst  the  rest — failing  only  in  his  attempt  to  get  himself 
elected  to  the  Papal  chair.  This  Dean  of  Lincoln,  so  aspiring,  so 
ambitious,  fond  of  magnificence  and  state,  was  sure  to  be  found 
at  his  place  in  a  convocation  called  that  the  clergy  might  tax 
themselves  in  support  of  his  warlike  policy  and  in  aid  of  his 
ambitious  dreams.  Wolsey,  we  may  be  sure,  would  be  there 
to  watch  anxiously  the  concessions  of  his  "  dismes,"  as  Bishop 
Fitzjames  would  be  there  also  to  await  the  measures  to  be  taken 
for  the  *'  extirpation  of  heresy." 

It  was  before  an  assembly  composed  of  such  bishops  and 
churchmen  as  these  that  Colet  rose  to  deliver  the  following 
address : — 

"  You  are  come  together  to-day,  fathers  and  right  wise  men, 
to  hold  a  council.  In  which  what  ye  will  do,  and  what  matters 
ye  will  handle,  I  do  not  yet  know;  but  I  wish  that,  at  length, 
mindful  of  your  name  and  profession,  ye  would  consider  of  the 
reformation  of  ecclesiastical  affairs:  for  never  was  it  more 
necessary  and  never  did  the  state  of  the  Church  more  need 
your  endeavours.  For  the  Church  —  the  spouse  of  Christ  — 
which  He  wished  to  be  without  spot  or  wrinkle,  is  become  foul 
and  deformed.  As  saith  Esaias,  '  The  faithful  city  is  become  a 
harlot; '  and  as  Jeremias  speaks,  '  She  hath  committed  fornica- 
tion with  many  lovers,'  whereby  she  hath  conceived  many 
seeds  of  iniquity,  and  daily  bringeth  forth  the  foulest  offspring. 
Wherefore  I  have  come  here  to-day,  fathers,  to  admonish  you 
with  all  your  minds  to  deliberate,  in  this  your  Council,  concerning 
the  reformation  of  the  Church. 

"  But,  in  sooth,  I  came  not  of  my  own  will  and  pleasure,  for 
I  was  conscious  of  my  unworthiness,  and  I  saw  too  how  hard  it 
would  be  to  satisfy  the  most  critical  judgment  of  such  great 
men.  I  judged  it  would  be  altogether  unworthy,  unfit,  and 
almost  arrogant  in  me,  a  servant,  to  admonish  you,  my  masters ! 
— in  me,  a  son,  to  teach  you,  my  fathers!  It  would  have 
come  better  from  some  one  of  the  fathers — that  is,  from  one 
of  you  prelates,  who  might  have  done  it  with  weightier  authority 
and  greater  wisdom.  But  I  could  not  but  obey  the  command 
of  the  most  reverend  Father  and  Lord  Archbishop,  the  President 
of  this  Council,  who  imposed  this  duty,  a  truly  heavy  one,  upon 


I5I2]        Colet's  Sermon  to  Convocation       143 

me;  for  we  read  that  it  was  said  by  Samuel  the  prophet,  *  Obe- 
dience is  better  than  sacrifice.'  Wherefore,  fathers  and  most 
worthy  sirs,  I  pray  and  beseech  you  this  day  that  you  will  bear 
with  my  weakness  by  your  forbearance  and  patience;  next, 
in  the  beginning,  help  me  with  your  pious  prayers.  And,  before 
all  things,  let  us  pour  out  our  prayers  to  God  the  Father  Almighty; 
and  first,  let  us  pray  for  his  Holiness  the  Pope,  for  all  spiritual 
pastors,  with  all  Christian  people;  next,  let  us  pray  for  our 
most  reverend  Father  the  Lord  Archbishop,  President  of  this 
Council,  and  all  the  lords  bishops,  the  whole  clergy,  and  the 
whole  people  of  England;  let  us  pray,  lastly,  for  this  assembly 
and  convocation,  praying  God  that  He  may  inspire  your  minds 
so  unanimously  to  conclude  upon  what  is  for  the  good  and  benefit 
of  the  Church,  that  when  this  Council  is  concluded  we  may  not 
seem  to  have  been  called  together  in  vain  and  without  cause. 
Let  us  all  say  '  the  Pater  noster,  etc'  " 

The  Paternoster  concluded,  Colet  proceeded: — 

"  As  I  am  about  to  exhort  you,  reverend  fathers,  to  endeavour 
to  reform  the  condition  of  the  Church;  because  nothing  has  so 
disfigured  the  face  of  the  Church  as  the  secular  and  worldly  way 
of  living  on  the  part  of  the  clergy,  I  know  not  how  I  can  com- 
mence my  discourse  more  fitly  than  with  the  Apostle  Paul,  in 
whose  cathedral  ye  are  now  assembled  (Romans  xii.  2) — *  Be  ye 
not  conformed  to  this  world,  but  be  ye  reformed  in  the  newness  of 
your  minds,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  the  good,  and  well-pleasing, 
and  perfect  will  of  God.'  This  the  Apostle  wrote  to  all  Christian 
men,  but  emphatically  to  priests  and  bishops :  for  priests  and 
bishops  are  the  lights  of  the  world,  as  the  Saviour  said  to  them, 
*  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world; '  and  again  He  said, '  If  the  light 
that  is  in  you  be  darkness,  how  great  will  be  that  darkness ! ' 
That  is,  if  priests  and  bishops,  the  very  lights,  run  in  the  dark 
way  of  the  world,  how  dark  must  the  lay-people  be !  Wherefore, 
emphatically  to  priests  and  bishops  did  St.  Paul  say,  *  Be  ye 
not  conformed  to  this  world,  but  be  ye  reformed  in  the  newness  of 
your  minds.'    •  .  »    ^^  "7 

"  By  these  words  the  Apostle  points  out  two  things: — First, 
he  prohibits  our  being  conformed  to  the  world  and  becoming 
carnal ;  and  then  he  commands  that  we  be  reformed  in  the  Spirit 
of  God,  in  order  that  we  may  be  spiritual.  I  therefore,  following 
this  order,  shall  speak  first  of  Conformation,  and  after  that  of 
Reformation, 


144  T'^^  Oxford  Reformers  [iS" 

"  '  Be  not/  he  says,  *  conformed  to  this  world.'  By  the  world 
the  Apostle  means  the  worldly  way  and  manner  of  living,  which 
consists  chiefly  in  these  four  evils — viz.  in  devilish  pride,  in  carnal 
concupiscence,  in  worldly  covetousness,  and  in  worldly  occupations. 
These  things  are  in  the  world,  as  St.  John  testifies  in  his  canonical 
epistle;  for  he  says,  *  All  things  that  are  in  the  world  are  either 
the  lust  of  the  flesh,  or  the  lust  of  the  eye,  or  the  pride  of  life.' 
These  things  in  like  manner  exist  and  reign  in  the  Church,  and 
amongst  ecclesiastical  persons,  so  that  we  seem  able  truly  to  say, 
*  All  things  that  are  in  the  Church  are  either  the  lust  of  the  flesh, 
the  lust  of  the  eye,  or  the  pride  of  life ! ' 

"  In  the  first  place,  to  speak  of  pride  of  life — what  eagerness 
and  hunger  after  honour  and  dignity  are  found  in  these  days 
amongst  ecclesiastical  persons!  What  a  breathless  race  from 
benefice  to  benefice,  from  a  less  to  a  greater  one,  from  a  lower  to  a 
higher!  Who  is  there  who  does  not  see  this?  Who  that  sees 
it  does  not  grieve  over  it?  Moreover,  those  who  hold  these 
dignities,  most  of  them  carry  themselves  with  such  lofty  mien 
and  high  looks,  that  their  place  does  not  seem  to  be  in  the 
humble  priesthood  of  Christ,  but  in  proud  worldly  dominion  I — 
not  acknowledging  or  perceiving  what  the  master  of  humiHty, 
Christ,  said  to  his  disciples  whom  He  called  to  the  priesthood. 
'  The  princes  of  the  nations  '  (said  He) '  have  lordship  over  them, 
and  those  who  are  amongst  the  great  have  power.  But  it  shall 
not  be  so  with  you :  but  he  who  is  great  among  you,  let  him  be 
your  minister;  he  who  is  chief,  let  him  be  the  servant  of  all. 
For  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to 
minister.'  By  which  words  the  Saviour  plainly  teaches  that 
magistracy  in  the  Church  is  nothing  else  than  humble  service. 

"  As  to  the  second  worldly  evil,  which  is  the  lust  of  the  flesh — 
has  not  this  vice,  I  ask,  inundated  the  Church  as  with  the  flood 
of  its  lust,  so  that  nothing  is  more  carefully  sought  after,  in 
these  most  troublous  times,  by  the  most  part  of  priests,  than 
that  which  ministers  to  sensual  pleasure?  They  give  them- 
selves up  to  feasting  and  banqueting;  spend  themselves  in 
vain  babbling,  take  part  in  sports  and  plays,  devote  themselves 
to  hunting  and  hawking;  are  drowned  in  the  delights  of  this 
world;  patronise  those  who  cater  for  their  pleasure.  It  was 
against  this  kind  of  people  that  Jude  the  Apostle  exclaimed: 
'  Woe  unto  them !  for  they  have  gone  in  the  way  of  Cain,  and 
ran  greedily  after  the  error  of  Balaam  for  reward,  and  perished 
in  the  gainsaying  of  Core.  These  are  spots  in  your  feasts  of 
charity,  when  they  feast  with  you,  feeding  themselves  without 


I5I2]       Colet's  Sermon  to  Convocation        145 

fear;  clouds  they  are  without  water,  carried  about  of  winds; 
trees  whose  fruit  withereth,  without  fruit,  twice  dead,  plucked 
up  by  the  roots;  raging  waves  of  the  sea,  foaming  out  their 
own  shame ;  wandering  stars,  to  whom  is  reserved  the  blackness 
of  darkness  for  ever.' 

"  Covetousness  also,  which  is  the  third  worldly  evil,  which  the 
Apostle  John  called  the  lust  of  the  eye,  and  Paul  idolatry — this 
most  horrible  plague — has  so  taken  possession  of  the  hearts  of 
nearly  all  priests,  and  has  so  darkened  the  eyes  of  their  minds, 
that  now-a-days  we  are  blind  to  everything,  but  that  alone 
which  seems  to  be  able  to  bring  us  gain.  For  in  these  days,  what 
else  do  we  seek  for  in  the  Church  than  rich  benefices  and  pro- 
motions? In  these  same  promotions,  what  else  do  we  count 
upon  but  their  fruits  and  revenues?  We  rush  after  them  with 
such  eagerness,  that  we  care  not  how  many  and  what  duties,  or 
how  great  benefices  we  take,  if  only  they  have  great  revenues. 

*'  0  Covetousness  I  Paul  rightly  called  thee  '  the  root  of  all 
evil ! '  For  from  thee  comes  all  this  piling-up  of  benefices  one  on 
the  top  of  the  other;  from  thee  come  the  great  pensions,  assigned 
out  of  many  benefices  resigned;  from  thee  quarrels  about 
tithes,  about  offerings,  about  mortuaries,  about  dilapidations, 
about  ecclesiastical  right  and  title,  for  which  we  fight  as 
though  for  our  very  fives!  0  Covetousness!  from  thee  come 
burdensome  visitations  of  bishops;  from  thee  corruptions  of 
Law  Courts,  and  those  daily  fresh  inventions  by  which 
the  poor  people  are  harassed;  from  thee  the  sauciness  and 
insolence  of  officials !  0  Covetousness !  mother  of  all  iniquity ! 
from  thee  comes  that  eager  desire  on  the  part  of  ordinaries  to 
enlarge  their  jurisdiction;  from  thee  their  fooHsh  and  mad  con- 
tention to  get  hold  of  the  probate  of  wills;  from  thee  undue 
sequestrations  of  fruits ;  from  thee  that  superstitious  observance 
of  all  those  laws  which  are  lucrative,  and  disregard  and  neglect 
of  those  which  point  at  the  correction  of  morals !  Why  should 
I  mention  the  rest? — To  sum  up  all  in  one  word:  every  cor- 
ruption, all  the  ruin  of  the  Church,  all  the  scandals  of  the  world, 
come  from  the  covetousness  of  priests,  according  to  the  saying 
of  Paul,  which  I  repeat  again,  and  beat  into  your  ears, '  Covetous- 
ness is  the  root  of  all  evil ! ' 

"  The  fourth  worldly  evil  which  mars  and  spots  the  face  of  the 
Church  is  the  incessant  worldly  occupation  in  which  many  priests 
and  bishops  in  these  days  entangle  themselves — servants  of  men 
rather  than  of  God,  soldiers  of  this  world  rather  than  of  Christ. 
For  the  Apostle  Paul  writes  to  Timothy,  *  No  man  that  warreth 


146  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1512 

for  God  entangleth  himself  in  the  affairs  of  this  life.'  But 
priests  are  '  soldiers  of  God.'  Their  warfare  truly  is  not  carnal^ 
but  spiritual :  for  our  warfare  is  to  pray,  to  read,  and  to  meditate 
upon  the  Scriptures;  to  minister  the  word  of  God,  to  administer 
the  sacraments  of  salvation,  to  make  sacrifice  for  the  people,  and 
to  offer  masses  for  their  souls.    For  we  are  mediators  between 

men  and  God,  as  Paul  testifies,  writing  to  the  Hebrews :  '  Every  j 

priest '  (he  says)  '  taken  from  amongst  men  is  ordained  for  men  \ 

in  things  pertaining  to  God,  to  offer  gifts  and  sacrifices  for  sins.'  | 

Wherefore  the  Apostles,  the  first  priests  and  bishops,  so  shrank  ] 

from  every  taint  of  worldly  things  that  they  did  not  even  wish  i 

to  minister  to  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  although  this  was  a  j 

great  work  of  piety:  for  they  said, '  It  is  not  right  that  we  should  \ 

leave  the  word  of  God  and  serve  tables;  we  will  give  ourselves  ; 

continually  to  prayer,  and  the  ministry  of  the  word  of  God.'  ; 

And  Paul  exclaims  to  the  Corinthians, '  If  you  have  any  secular  j 

matters,  make  those  of  you  judges  who  are  of  least  estimation  i 

in  the  Church.'     Indeed  from  this  worldliness,  and  because  the  : 

clergy  and  priests,  neglecting  spiritual  things,  involve  them-  ' 

selves  in  earthly  occupation,  many  evils  follow.    First,  the  ; 

priestly  dignity  is  dishonoured,  which  is  greater  than  either  ■ 

royal  or  imperial  dignity,  for  it  is  equal  to  that  of  angels.    And  j 

the  splendour  of  this  high  dignity  is  obscured  by  darkness  when  ■ 

priests,  whose  conversation  ought  to  be  in  heaven,  are  occupied  j 

with  the  things  of  earth.    Secondly,  the  dignity  of  priests  is  . 

despised  when  there  is  no  difference  between  such  priests  and  j 

laymen;   but  (according  to  Hosea  the  prophet)  '  as  the  people  j 

are,  so  are  the  priests.'    Thirdly,  the  beautiful  order  of  the  ; 

hierarchy  in  the  Church  is  confused  when  the  magnates  of  the  \ 

Church  are  busied  in  vile  and  earthly  things,  and  in  their  stead  ; 

vile  and  abject  persons  meddle  with  high  and  spiritual  things.  I 

Fourthly,  the  laity  themselves  are  scandalised  and  driven  to  ruin,  \ 

when  those  whose  duty  it  is  to  draw  men  from  this  world,  teach  j 

men  to  love  this  world  by  their  own  devotion  to  worldly  things,  { 

and  by  their  love  of  this  world  are  [themselves]  carried  down  i 

headlong  into  hell.     Besides,  when  priests  themselves  are  thus  j 

entangled,  it  must  end  in  hypocrisy  ;  for,  mixed  up  and  confused  ] 

with  the  laity,  they  lead,  under  a  priestly  exterior,  the  mere  life  \ 

of  a  layman.    Also  their  spiritual  weakness  and  servile  fear,  \ 

when  enervated  by  the  waters  of  this  world,  makes  them  dare  ] 

neither  to  do  nor  say  anything  but  what  they  know  will  be  ■ 

grateful  and  pleasing  to  their  princes.     Lastly,  such  is  their  • 

ignorance  and  blindness,  when  blinded  by  the  darkness  of  this  j 


ISI2]       Colet's  Sermon  to  Convocation        147 

world,  that  they  can  discern  nothing  but  earthly  things.  Where- 
fore not  without  cause  our  Saviour  Christ  admonished  the  pre- 
lates of  his  Church,  *  Take  heed  lest  your  hearts  be  burdened  by 
surfeiting  or  banqueting,  and  the  cares  of  this  world.'  '  By  the 
cares  (He  says)  of  this  world ! '  The  hearts  of  priests  weighed 
down  by  riches  cannot  lift  themselves  on  high,  nor  raise  them- 
selves to  heavenly  things. 

"  Many  other  evils  there  be,  which  are  the  result  of  the 
worldliness  of  priests,  which  it  would  take  long  to  mention;  but 
I  have  done.  These  are  those  four  evils,  0  fathers !  0  priests ! 
by  which,  as  I  have  said,  we  are  conformed  to  this  world,  by 
which  the  face  of  the  Church  is  marred,  by  which  her  influence  is 
destroyed,  plainly,  far  more  than  it  was  marred  and  destroyed, 
either  at  the  beginning  by  the  persecution  of  tyrants,  or  after 
that  by  the  invasion  of  heresies  which  followed.  For  by  the 
persecution  of  tyrants  the  persecuted  Church  was  made  stronger 
and  more  glorious ;  by  the  invasion  of  heretics,  the  Church  being 
shaken,  was  made  wiser  and  more  skilled  in  Holy  Scriptures. 
But  after  the  introduction  of  this  most  sinful  worldliness,  when 
worldliness  had  crept  in  amongst  the  clergy,  the  root  of  all 
spiritual  life — charity  itself — was  extinguished.  And  without 
this  the  Church  can  neither  be  wise  nor  strong  in  God. 

"  In  these  times  also  we  experience  much  opposition  from  the 
laity,  but  they  are  not  so  opposed  to  us  as  we  are  to  ourselves. 
Nor  does  their  opposition  do  us  so  much  hurt  as  the  opposition 
of  our  own  wicked  lives,  which  are  opposed  to  God  and  to  Christ; 
for  He  said,  '  He  that  is  not  with  me  is  against  me.'  We  are 
troubled  in  these  days  also  by  heretics — men  mad  with  strange 
folly; — but  this  heresy  of  theirs  is  not  so  pestilential  and  per- 
nicious to  us  and  the  people  as  the  vicious  and  depraved  lives  of 
the  clergy,  which,  if  we  may  beheve  St.  Bernard,  is  a  species  of 
heresy,  and  the  greatest  and  most  pernicious  of  all;  for  that  holy 
father,  preaching  in  a  certain  convocation  to  the  priests  of  his 
time,  in  his  sermon  spake  in  these  words : — '  There  are  many 
who  are  catholic  in  their  speaking  and  preaching  who  are  very 
heretics  in  their  actions,  for  what  heretics  do  by  their  false 
doctrines  these  men  do  by  their  evil  examples — they  seduce  the 
people  and  lead  them  into  error  of  life — and  they  are  by  so  much 
worse  than  heretics  as  actions  are  stronger  than  words.'  These 
things  said  Bernard,  that  holy  father  of  so  great  and  ardent  spirit, 
against  the  faction  of  wicked  priests  of  his  time;  by  which 
words  he  plainly  shows  that  there  be  two  kinds  of  heretical 
pravity — one  of  perverse  doctrine,  the  other  of  perverse  living — 


148 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1512 


of  which  the  latter  is  the  greater  and  more  pernicious ;  and  this  ] 
reigns  in  the  Church,  to  the  miserable  destruction  of  the  Church,  j 
her  priests  living  after  a  worldly  and  not  after  a  priestly  fashion.  ; 
Wherefore  do  you  fathers,  you  priests,  and  all  of  you  of  the  .j 
clergy,  awake  at  length,  and  rise  up  from  this  your  sleep  in  this  i 
forgetful  world :  and  being  awake,  at  length  listen  to  Paul  calling  ; 
unto  you, '  Be  ye  not  conformed  to  this  world.'  ' 

"  This  concerning  the  first  part.  : 

i 

"  Now  let  us  come  to  the  second — concerning  Reformation.      1 

"  '  But  be  ye  reformed  in  the  newness  of  your  minds.'  I 
What  Paul  commands  us  secondly  is,  that  we  should  '  be  re-  ] 
formed  into  a  new  mind; '  that  we  should  savour  the  things  i 
which  are  of  God;  that  we  should  be  reformed  to  those  things  i 
which  are  contrary  to  what  I  have  been  speaking  of — t.e,  to  | 
humiHty,  sobriety,  charity,  spiritual  occupations;  just  as  Paul  j 
wrote  to  Titus,  *  Denying  ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  we  \ 
should  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly  in  this  present  j 
world.'  I 

"  But  this  reformation  and  restoration  in  ecclesiastical  affairs  i 
must  needs  begin  with  you,  our  fathers,  and  then  afterwards  j 
descend  upon  us  your  priests  and  the  whole  clergy.  For  you  I 
are  our  chiefs — you  are  our  examples  of  life.  To  you  we  look  j 
as  waymarks  for  our  direction.  In  you  and  in  your  lives  we  j 
desire  to  read,  as  in  living  books,  how  we  ourselves  should  live.  ] 
Wherefore,  if  you  wish  to  see  our  motes,  first  take  the  beams  out  j 
of  your  own  eyes ;  for  it  is  an  old  proverb,  '  Physician  heal  thy-  \ 
self.'  Do  you,  spiritual  doctors,  first  assay  that  medicine  for  the  ' 
purgation  of  morals,  and  then  you  may  offer  it  to  us  to  taste  of  j 
it  also.  i 

"  The  way,  moreover,  by  which  the  Church  is  to  be  reformed  ; 
and  restored  to  a  better  condition  is  not  to  enact  any  new  laws 
(for  there  are  laws  enough  and  to  spare).  As  Solomon  says, 
*  There  is  no  new  thing  under  the  sun.'  The  diseases  which  are  ' 
now  in  the  Church  were  the  same  in  former  ages,  and  there  is  ■ 
no  evil  for  which  the  holy  fathers  did  not  provide  excellent  ,! 
remedies ;  there  are  no  crimes  in  prohibition  of  which  there  are  I 
not  laws  in  the  body  of  the  Canon  Law.  The  need,  therefore,  is  ; 
not  for  the  enactment  of  new  laws  and  constitutions,  but  for  the  I 
observance  of  those  already  enacted.  Wherefore,  in  this  your  | 
congregation,  let  the  existing  laws  be  produced  and  recited  which  j 
prohibit  what  is  evil,  and  which  enjoin  what  is  right. 

"  First,  let  those  laws  be  recited  which  admonish  you,  fathers,  t 


I5I2]        Colet's  Sermon  to  Convocation        149 

not  to  lay  your  hands  on  any,  nor  to  admit  them  to  holy  orders, 
rashly.  For  here  is  the  source  from  whence  other  evils  flow, 
because  if  the  entrance  to  Holy  Orders  be  thrown  open,  all  who 
offer  themselves  are  forthwith  admitted  without  hindrance. 
Hence  proceed  and  emanate  those  hosts  of  both  unlearned  and 
wicked  priests  which  are  in  the  Church.  For  it  is  not,  in  my 
judgment,  enough  that  a  priest  can  construe  a  collect,  propound 
a  proposition,  or  reply  to  a  sophism;  but  much  more  needful  are 
a  good  and  pure  and  holy  life,  approved  morals,  moderate  know- 
ledge of  the  Scriptures,  some  knowledge  of  the  Sacraments, 
above  all  fear  of  God  and  love  of  heavenly  life. 

"  Let  the  laws  be  recited  which  direct  that  ecclesiastical 
benefices  should  be  conferred  on  the  worthy,  and  promotions  in 
the  Church  made  with  just  regard  to  merit;  not  by  carnal 
affection,  nor  the  acceptation  of  persons,  whereby  it  comes  to 
pass  in  these  days,  that  boys  instead  of  old  men,  fools  instead  of 
wise  men,  wicked  instead  of  good  men,  reign  and  rule ! 

*'  Let  the  laws  be  recited  against  the  guilt  of  simony;  which 
plague,  which  contagion,  which  dire  pestilence,  now  creeps  like 
a  cancer  through  the  minds  of  priests,  so  that  most  are  not 
ashamed  in  these  days  to  get  for  themselves  great  dignities  by 
petitions  and  suits  at  court,  rewards  and  promises. 

"  Let  the  laws  be  recited  which  command  the  personal  resi- 
dence of  curates  at  their  churches:  for  many  evils  spring  from 
the  custom,  in  these  days,  of  performing  all  clerical  duties  by 
help  of  vicars  and  substitutes;  men  too  without  judgment,  unfit, 
and  often  wicked,  who  will  seek  nothing  from  the  people  but 
sordid  gain — whence  spring  scandals,  heresies,  and  bad  Chris- 
tianity amongst  the  people. 

"  Let  the  laws  be  rehearsed,  and  the  holy  rules  handed  down 
from  our  ancestors  concerning  the  life  and  character  of  the  clergy, 
which  prohibit  any  churchman  from  being  a  merchant,  usurer, 
or  hunter,  or  common  player,  or  from  bearing  arms — the  laws 
which  prohibit  the  clergy  from  frequenting  taverns,  from  having 
unlawful  intercourse  with  women — the  laws  which  command 
sobriety  and  modesty  in  vestment,  and  temperance  in  dress. 

"  Let  also  the  laws  be  recited  concerning  monks  and  religious 
men,  which  command  that,  leaving  the  broad  way  of  the  world, 
they  enter  the  narrow  way  which  leads  to  life;  which  command 
them  not  to  meddle  in  business,  whether  secular  or  ecclesiastical; 
which  command  that  they  should  not  engage  in  suits  in  civil 
courts  for  earthly  things.  For  in  the  Council  of  Chalcedon  it 
was  decreed  that  monks  should  give  themselves  up  entirely  to 


150  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1512 

prayer  and  fasting,  the  chastisement  of  their  flesh,  and  observ- 
ance of  their  monastic  rule. 

"  Above  all,  let  those  laws  be  recited  which  concern  and  per- 
tain to  you,  reverend  fathers  and  lords  bishops — laws  concerning 
your  just  and  canonical  election,  in  the  chapters  of  your  churches, 
with  the  invocation  of  the  Holy  Spirit:  for  because  this  is  not 
done  in  these  days,  and  prelates  are  often  chosen  more  by  the 
favour  of  men  than  the  grace  of  God,  so,  in  consequence,  we 
sometimes  certainly  have  bishops  too  little  spiritual — men  more 
worldly  than  heavenly,  wiser  in  the  spirit  of  this  world  than  in 
the  spirit  of  Christ ! 

"  Let  the  laws  be  rehearsed  concerning  the  residence  of 
bishops  in  their  dioceses,  which  command  that  they  watch  over 
the  salvation  of  souls,  that  they  disseminate  the  word  of  God, 
that  they  personally  appear  in  their  churches  at  least  on  great 
festivals,  that  they  sacrifice  for  their  people,  that  they  hear  the 
causes  of  the  poor,  that  they  sustain  the  fatherless,  and  widows, 
that  they  exercise  themselves  always  in  works  of  piety. 

"  Let  the  laws  be  rehearsed  concerning  the  due  distribution 
of  the  patrimony  of  Christ — laws  which  command  that  the  goods 
of  the  Church  be  spent  not  in  sumptuous  buildings,  not  in  magnifi- 
cence and  pomp,  not  in  feasts  and  banquets,  not  in  luxury  and 
lust,  not  in  enriching  kinsfolk  nor  in  keeping  hounds,  but  in 
things  useful  and  needful  to  the  Church.  For  when  he  was 
asked  by  Augustine,  the  English  bishop,  in  what  way  English 
bishops  and  prelates  should  dispose  of  those  goods  which  were 
the  offerings  of  the  faithful.  Pope  Gregory  replied  (and  his  reply 
is  placed  in  the  Decretals,  ch.  xii.  q.  2),  that  the  goods  of  bishops 
should  be  divided  into  four  parts,  of  which  one  part  should  go  to 
the  bishop  and  his  family,  another  to  his  clergy,  a  third  for 
repairing  buildings,  a  fourth  to  the  poor. 

"  Let  the  laws  be  recited,  and  let  them  be  recited  again  and 
again,  which  abolish  the  scandals  and  vices  of  courts,  which  take 
away  those  daily  newly-invented  arts  for  getting  money,  which 
were  designed  to  extirpate  and  eradicate  that  horrible  covetous- 
ness  which  is  the  root  and  cause  of  all  evils,  which  is  the  fountain 
of  all  iniquity. 

"  Lastly,  let  those  laws  and  constitutions  be  renewed  concern- 
ing the  holding  of  Councils,  which  command  that  Provincial 
Councils  should  be  held  more  frequently  for  the  reformation  of 
the  Church.  For  nothing  ever  happens  more  detrimental  to  the 
Church  of  Christ  than  the  omission  of  Councils,  both  general  and 
provincial. 


I5I2]       Colet's  Sermon  to  Convocation        151 

"  Having  rehearsed  these  laws  and  others,  Hke  them,  which 
pertain  to  this  matter,  and  have  for  their  object  the  correction 
of  morals,  it  remains  that  with  all  authority  and  power  their 
execution  should  be  commanded,  so  that  having  a  law  we  should 
at  length  live  according  to  it. 

*'  In  which  matter,  with  all  due  reverence,  I  appeal  most 
strongly  to  you,  fathers !  For  this  execution  of  laws  and  observ- 
ance of  constitutions  ought  to  begin  with  you,  so  that  by  your 
living  example  you  may  teach  us  priests  to  imitate  you.  Else 
it  will  surely  be  said  of  you,  '  They  lay  heavy  burdens  on  other 
men's  shoulders,  but  they  themselves  will  not  move  them  even 
with  one  of  their  fingers.'  But  you,  if  you  keep  the  laws,  and 
first  reform  your  own  lives  to  the  law  and  rules  of  the  Canons, 
will  thereby  provide  us  with  a  light,  in  which  we  shall  see  what 
we  ought  to  do — the  light,  i.e.,  of  your  good  example.  And 
we,  seeing  our  fathers  keep  the  laws,  will  gladly  follow  in  the 
footsteps  of  our  fathers. 

"  The  clerical  and  priestly  part  of  the  church  being  thus 
reformed,  we  can  then  with  better  grace  proceed  to  the  reforma- 
tion of  the  lay  part,  which  indeed  it  will  be  very  easy  to  do,  if 
we  ourselves  have  been  reformed  first.  For  the  body  follows  the 
soul,  and  as  are  the  rulers  in  a  State  such  will  the  people  be. 
Wherefore,  if  priests  themselves,  the  rulers  of  souls,  were  good, 
the  people  in  their  turn  would  become  good  also ;  for  our  own 
goodness  would  teach  others  how  they  may  be  good  more  clearly 
than  all  other  kinds  of  teaching  and  preaching.  Our  goodness 
would  urge  them  on  in  the  right  way  far  more  efficaciously  than 
all  your  suspensions  and  excommunications.  Wherefore,  if  you 
wish  the  lay-people  to  live  according  to  your  will  and  pleasure, 
you  must  first  live  according  to  the  will  of  God,  and  thus  (believe 
me)  you  will  easily  attain  what  you  wish  in  them. 

"  You  want  obedience  from  them.  And  it  is  right;  for  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  are  these  words  of  Paul  to  the  laity: 
*  Be  obedient '  (he  says)  '  to  your  rulers,  and  be  subject  to  them.' 
But  if  you  desire  this  obedience,  first  give  reason  and  cause  of 
obedience  on  your  part,  as  the  same  Paul  teaches  in  the  following 
text — *  Watch  as  those  that  give  an  account  of  their  souls,'  and 
then  they  will  obey  you. 

*'  You  desire  to  be  honoured  by  the  people.  It  is  right;  for 
Paul  writes  to  Timotheus,  '  Priests  who  rule  well  are  worthy  of 
double  honour,  chiefly  those  who  labour  in  word  and  doctrine.' 
Therefore,  desiring  honour,  first  rule  well,  and  labour  in  word  and 
doctrine,  and  then  the  people  will  hold  you  in  all  honour. 


152  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 12 

"  You  desire  to  reap  their  carnal  things,  and  to  collect  tithes 
and  offerings  without  any  reluctance  on  their  part.  It  is  right; 
for  Paul,  writing  to  the  Romans,  says :  *  They  are  your  debtors, 
and  ought  to  minister  to  you  in  carnal  things.'  But  if  you  wish 
to  reap  their  carnal  things,  you  must  first  sow  your  spiritual 
things,  and  then  ye  shall  reap  abundantly  of  their  carnal 
things.  For  that  man  is  hard  and  unjust  who  desires  '  to 
reap  where  he  has  not  sown,  and  to  gather  where  he  has  not 
scattered.' 

"  You  desire  ecclesiastical  liberty,  and  not  to  be  drawn  before 
civil  courts.  And  this  too  is  right;  for  in  the  Psalms  it  is  said, 
*  Touch  not  mine  anointed.'  But  if  ye  desire  this  liberty,  loose 
yourselves  first  from  worldly  bondage,  and  from  the  cringing 
service  of  men,  and  claim  for  yourselves  that  true  liberty  of 
Christ,  that  spiritual  liberty  through  grace  from  sin,  and  serve 
God  and  reign  in  Him,  and  then  (believe  me)  the  people  will  not 
touch  the  anointed  of  the  Lord  their  God ! 

"  You  desire  security,  quiet,  and  peace.  And  this  is  fitting. 
But,  desiring  peace,  return  to  the  God  of  love  and  peace;  return 
to  Christ,  in  whom  is  the  true  peace  of  the  Spirit  which  passeth 
all  understanding;  return  to  the  true  priestly  life.  And  lastly, 
as  Paul  commands,  '  Be  ye  reformed  in  the  newness  of  your 
minds,  that  ye  may  know  those  things  which  are  of  God;  and 
the  peace  of  God  shall  be  with  you ! ' 

"  These,  reverend  fathers  and  most  distinguished  men,  are 
the  things  that  I  thought  should  be  spoken  concerning  the 
reformation  of  the  clergy.  I  trust  that,  in  your  clemency,  you 
will  take  them  in  good  part.  If,  by  chance,  I  should  seem  to 
have  gone  too  far  in  this  sermon — if  I  have  said  anything  with 
too  much  warmth — forgive  it  me,  and  pardon  a  man  speaking 
out  of  zeal,  a  man  sorrowing  for  the  ruin  of  the  Church;  and, 
passing  by  any  foolishness  of  mine,  consider  the  thing  itself. 
Consider  the  miserable  state  and  condition  of  the  Church,  and 
bend  your  whole  minds  to  its  reformation.  Suffer  not,  fathers, 
suffer  not  this  so  illustrious  an  assembly  to  break  up  without 
result.  Suffer  not  this  your  congregation  to  slip  by  for  nothing. 
Ye  have  indeed  often  been  assembled.  But  (if  by  your  leave  I 
may  speak  the  truth)  I  see  not  what  fruit  has  as  yet  resulted, 
especially  to  the  Church,  from  assemblies  of  this  kind !  Go  now, 
in  the  Spirit  whom  you  have  invoked,  that  ye  may  be  able,  with 
his  assistance,  to  devise,  to  ordain,  and  to  decree  those  things 
which  may  be  useful  to  the  Church,  and  redound  to  your  praise 


15 12]  Convocation  of  1512  153 

and  the  honour  of  God:  to  whom  be  all  honour  and  glory^  for 
ever  and  ever,  Amen !  " 

Comparing  this  noble  sermon  with  the  passages  quoted  in  an 
earlier  chapter  from  Colet's  lectures  at  Oxford  and  his  Abstracts 
of  the  Dionysian  writings,  it  must  be  admitted  that  what, 
fourteen  years  before,  he  had  uttered  as  it  were  in  secret,  he  had 
now,  as  occasion  required,  proclaimed  upon  the  housetops.  What 
effect  it  had  upon  the  assembled  clergy  no  record  remains  to  tell. 

The  object  which  Wolsey  had  in  view  in  the  convocation  was, 
it  may  be  presumed,  attained  to  his  satisfaction.  The  clergy 
granted  the  King  "  four  dismes,"  to  be  paid  in  yearly  instalments. 
And  this  was  the  full  amount  of  taxation  usually  demanded  by 
English  sovereigns  from  the  clergy  in  time  of  war,  except  in 
cases  of  extreme  urgency.^ 

Whether  Bishop  Fitzjames  succeeded  equally  well  in  securing 
the  inhuman  object  which  was  nearest  to  his  heart,  is  not 
equally  clear. 

But  one  authentic  picture  of  a  scene  which  there  can  be  little 
doubt  occurred  in  this  Convocation  has  been  preserved,  to  give 
a  passing  glimpse  into  the  nature  of  the  discussion  which  followed 
upon  the  subject  of  the  *'  extirpation  of  heresy."  In  the  course 
of  the  debate,  the  advocates  of  increased  severity  against  poor 
Lollards  were  asked,  it  seems,  to  point  out,  if  they  could,  a 
single  passage  in  the  Canonical  Scriptures  which  commands  the 
capital  punishment  of  heretics.  Whereupon  an  old  divine 
rose  from  his  seat,  and  with  some  severity  and  temper  quoted 
the  command  of  St.  Paul  to  Titus:  "  A  man  that  is  an  heretic, 
after  the  first  and  second  admonition,  reject."  The  old  man 
quoted  the  words  as  they  stand  in  the  Vulgate  version :  ''  Haere- 
ticum  hominem  post  unam  et  alteram  correptionem  devita  I  " — 
"  De-vita  /  "  he  repeated  with  emphasis;  and  again,  louder  still, 
he  thundered  "  De-vita!"  till  every  one  wondered  what  had 
happened  to  the  man.  At  length  he  proceeded  to  explain  that 
the  meaning  of  the  Latin  verb  "  devitare  "  being  "  de  vita 
toUere  "  ( !),  the  passage  in  question  was  clearly  a  direct  command 
to  punish  heretics  by  death !  ^ 

*  A  "  tenth,"  of  the  clergy,  produced  in  1500  about  £12,000.  See 
Italian  Relation  of  England,  C.  S.  p.  52.  Four-tenths  would  be  equal  to 
about  half  a  million  sterling  in  present  money. 

**  If  the  King  should  go  to  war,  he  .  .  .  immediately  compels  the 
clergy  to  pay  him  one,  two,  or  three-fifteenths  or  tenths  .  .  .  and  more 
if  the  urgency  of  the  war  should  require  it." — Ibid.  p.  52. 

•  See  note  of  Erasmus  in  his  Annotationes,  in  loco  Titus  iii.  10;  also  the 
Praise  of  Folly,  where  the  story  is  told  in  connection  with  further  par- 


154  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1512^ 

A  smile  passed  round  among  those  members  of  Convocation^ 
who  were  learned  enough  to  detect  the  gross  ignorance  of  the] 
old  divine;  but  to  the  rest  his  logic  appeared  perfectly  conclu-J 
sive,  and  he  was  allowed  to  proceed  triumphantly  to  support  .^ 
his  position  by  quoting,  again  from  the  Vulgate,  the  text] 
translated  in  the  English  version,  "  Suffer  not  a  witch  to  live."  \ 
For  the  word  "  witch  "  the  Vulgate  version  has  "  maleficus."  j 
A  heretic,  he  declared,  was  clearly  "  maleficus,"  and  therefore  j 
ought  not  to  be  suffered  to  live.  By  which  conclusive  logic  the  ■ 
learned  members  of  the  Convocation  of  151 2  were,  it  is  said,  for  ^ 
the  most  part  completely  carried  away.  ] 

This  story,  resting  wholly  or  in  part  upon  Colet's  own  relation  i 
to  Erasmus,  is  the  only  glimpse  which  can  be  gathered  of  the  ] 
proceedings  of  this  Convocation  "  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy."  • 

II.  COLET  IS  CHARGED  WITH  HERESY  (1512)         j 

Before  the  spring  of  1512  was  passed,  Colet's  Sermon  to 
Convocation  was  printed  and  distributed  in  Latin,  and  probably  I 
in  English^  also;  and  as  there  was  an  immediate  lull  in  the  storm  j 
of  persecution,  he  may  possibly  have  come  off  rather  as  victor  i 
than  as  vanquished,  in  spite  of  the  seeming  triumph  of  the  j 
persecuting  party  in  Convocation.  i 

The  bold  position  he  had  taken  had  rallied  round  him  not  \ 

ticulars.  The  exact  coincidence  between  the  two  accounts  of  the  old  $ 
divine's  construction  of  Titus  iii.  10  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  rest  I 
of  the  story,  as  given  in  the  Praise  of  Folly,  may  also  very  probably  be  ' 
literally  true.  Knight,  in  his  Life  of  Colet,  concludes  that  as  the  story  is  ; 
told  in  the  Praise  of  Folly,  the  incident  must  have  occurred  in  a  previous  ] 
convocation,  as  this  satire  was  written  before  1512. — Knight,  pp.  199,  200.  \ 
But  the  story  is  not  inserted  in  the  editions  of  15 11  and  of  15 15,  whilst  it  is  '] 
inserted  in  the  Basle  edition  of  the  Encomium  MoricB,  November  12,  15 19,  ; 
published  just  after  Colet's  death  (p.  226),  Nor  is  the  first  part  of  the  • 
story  relating  to  Titus  iii.  10  to  be  found  in  the  first  edition  of  the  Annota-  { 
Hones  (15 16).  The  story  is  first  told  by  Erasmus  in  the  second  edition  i 
(15 19),  published  just  before  Colet's  death,  and  then  without  any  mention  1 
of  Colet's  name;  the  latter  being  possibly  omitted  lest,  as  Bishop  Fitz-  j 
James  was  still  living,  its  mention  should  be  dangerous  to  Colet.  It  was  ' 
not  till  the  third  edition  was  published  (in  1522),  when  both  Colet  and  ' 
Colet's  persecutor  were  dead,  that  Erasmus  added  the  words,  "  Id,  ne  quis  ; 
suspicetur  meum  esse  commentum,  accepi  ex  Johanne  Coleto,  viro  spectatae  ■ 
integritatis,  quo  praesidente  res  acta  est." — Annotationes ,  3rd  ed.  1522,  j 
p.  558.  ] 

^  There  is  an  old  English  translation  given  by  Knight  in  his  Life  of  Colet  \ 
(pp.  289-308),  printed  by  "  Thomas  Berthelet,  regius  impressor,"  and  j 
without  date.  Pynson  was  the  King's  printer  in  1512  (Brewer,  i.  p.  1030),  j 
and  accordingly  he  printed  the  Latin  edition  of  1511,  i.e.  1512. — Knight,  I 
p.  271.  Knight  speaks  of  the  old  English  version  as  "  written  probably  ; 
by  the  Dean  himself,"  but  he  gives  no  evidence  in  support  of  his  conjee-  j 
ture. — See  Knight's  Life  of  Colet,  p.  199.  ^ 


ISI2]        Jealousy  against  Colet's  School        155 

a  few  honest-hearted  men,  and  had  made  him,  perhaps  un- 
consciously on  his  part,  the  man  to  whom  earnest  truth-seekers 
looked  up  as  to  a  leader,  and  upon  whom  the  blind  leaders 
of  the  blindly  orthodox  party  vented  all  their  jealousy  and 
hatred. 

He  was  henceforth  a  marked  man.  That  school  of  his  in  St. 
Paul's  Churchyard,  to  the  erection  of  which  he  had  devoted 
his  fortune,  which  he  had  the  previous  autumn  made  his  will 
to  endow,  had  now  risen  into  a  conspicuous  building,  and  the 
motives  of  the  Dean  in  building  it  were  of  course  everywhere 
canvassed.  The  school  was  now  fairly  at  work.  Lilly,  the 
godson  of  Grocyn,  the  late  Professor  of  Greek  at  Oxford,  was 
already  appointed  headmaster;  and  as  he  was  known  to  have 
himself  travelled  in  Greece  to  perfect  his  classical  knowledge,  it 
could  no  longer  be  doubted  by  any  that  here,  under  the  shadow 
of  the  great  cathedral,  was  to  be  taught  to  the  boys  that  "  hereti- 
cal Greek  "  which  was  regarded  with  so  much  suspicion.  Here 
was,  in  fact,  a  school  of  the  "  new  learning,"  sowing  in  the 
minds  of  English  youth  the  seeds  of  that  free  thought  and 
heresy  which  Colet  had  so  long  been  teaching  to  the  people  from 
his  pulpit  at  St.  Paul's.  More  had  already  facetiously  told 
Colet  that  he  could  not  wonder  if  his  school  should  raise  a  storm 
of  malice;  for  people  cannot  help  seeing  that,  as  in  the  Trojan 
horse  were  concealed  armed  Greeks  for  the  destruction  of 
barbarian  Troy,  so  from  this  school  would  come  forth  those  who 
would  expose  and  upset  their  ignorance. 

No  wonder,  indeed,  if  the  wrath  of  Bishop  Fitzjames  should 
be  kindled  against  Colet;  no  wonder  if,  having  failed  in  his 
attempt  effectually  to  stir  up  the  spirit  of  persecution  in  the 
recent  Convocation,  he  should  now  vent  his  spleen  upon  the 
newly-founded  school. 

But  how  fully,  amid  all,  Colet  preserved  his  temper  and 
persevered  in  his  work,  may  be  gathered  from  the  following 
letter  to  Erasmus,  who,  in  intervals  of  leisure  from  graver 
labours,  was  devoting  his  literary  talents  to  the  service  of 
Colet's  school,  and  whose  little  book,  De  Copid  Verhorum,  was 
part  of  it  already  in  the  printer's  hands : — 

Colet  to  Erasmus 

"  Indeed,  dearest  Erasmus,  since  you  left  London  I  have 
heard  nothing  of  you.  .  .  . 
"  I  have  been  spending  a  few  days  in  the  country  with  my 


156  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1512 1 

mother,  consoling  her  in  her  grief  on  the  death  of  my  servant^ 
who  died  at  her  house,  whom  she  loved  as  a  son,  and  for  whose ! 
death  she  wept  as  though  he  had  been  more  than  a  son.    The  I 
night  on  which  I  returned  to  town  I  received  your  letter.  | 

"  Now  listen  to  a  joke !  A  certain  bishop,  who  is  held,  too,,  I 
to  be  one  of  the  wiser  ones,  has  been  blaspheming  our  school  5 
before  a  large  concourse  of  people,  declaring  that  I  have  erected  « 
what  is  a  useless  thing,  yea  a  bad  thing — yea  more  (to  give  his  ; 
own  words),  a  temple  of  idolatry.  Which,  indeed,  I  fancy  he  ; 
called  it,  because  the  poets  are  to  be  taught  there !  At  this,  • 
Erasmus,  I  am  not  angry,  but  laugh  heartily.  ...  1 

"  I  send  you  a  little  book  containing  the  sermon  "  [to  the  ; 
Convocation?].  "The  printers  said  they  had  sent  some  to  i 
Cambridge.  j 

"  Farewell !  Do  not  forget  the  verses  for  our  boys,  which  I  1 
want  you  to  finish  with  all  good  nature  and  courtesy.  Take  care  I 
to  let  us  have  the  second  part  of  your  Copia."  ^ 

The  second  part  of  the  Copta  was  accordingly  completed,  i 
and  the  whole  sent  to  the  press  in  May,  with  a  prefatory  letter  ) 
to  Colet,^  in  which  Erasmus  paid  a  loving  tribute  to  his  friend's  ;| 
character  and  work.  He  dwelt  upon  Colet's  noble  self-sacrific-  ;i 
ing  devotion  to  the  good  of  others,  and  the  judgment  he  had  jj 
shown  in  singling  out  two  main  objects  at  which  to  labour,  as  I 
the  most  powerful  means  of  furthering  the  great  cause  so  dear  \ 
to  his  heart.  | 

To  implant  Christ  in  the  hearts  of  the  common  people,  by  | 
constant  preaching,  year  after  year,  from  his  pulpit  at  St.  Paul's  \ 
— this,  wrote  Erasmus,  had  been  Colet's  first  great  work;  and  j 
surely  it  had  borne  much  fruit !  ^ 

To  found  a  school,  wherein  the  sons  of  the  people  should  \ 
drink  in  Christ  along  with  a  sound  education — that  thereby,  : 
as  it  were  in  the  cradle  of  coming  generations,  the  foundation  ' 
might  be  laid  of  the  future  welfare  of  his  country — this  had  •■ 
been  the  second  great  work  to  which  Colet  had  devoted  time,  , 
talents,  and  a  princely  fortune.  j 

"  What  is  this,  I  ask,  but  to  act  as  a  father  to  all  your  children  i 
and  fellow-citizens.?  You  rob  yourself  to  make  them  rich;  ''* 
you  strip  yourself  to  clothe  them.  You  wear  yourself  out  with  | 
toil,  that  they  may  be  quickened  into  life  in  Christ.  In  a  word,  ,: 
you  spend  yourself  away  that  you  may  gain  them  for  Christ !        | 

"  He  must  be  envious,  indeed,  who  does  not  back  with  all  i. 
*  Dated  "  m.dxii.  iii.  Kal.  Maias:  Londini." 


I5I2]  Colet  Charged  with  Heresy  157 

his  might  the  man  who  engages  in  a  work  like  this.  He  must 
be  wicked,  indeed,  who  can  gainsay  or  interrupt  him.  That 
man  is  an  enemy  to  England  who  does  not  care  to  give  a  helping 
hand  where  he  can." 

Which  words  in  praise  of  Colet's  self-sacrificing  work  were 
not  merely  uttered  within  hearing  of  those  who  might  hang 
upon  the  lips  of  the  aged  Fitzjames  or  the  bishop  who  had 
"blasphemed"  the  school;  they  passed,  with  edition  after 
edition  of  the  Copia  of  Erasmus,  into  the  hands  of  every  scholar 
in  Europe,  until  they  were  known  and  read  of  all  men !  ^ 

But  Bishop  Fitzjames,  whose  unabatingzeal  against  heretics 
had  become  the  ruling  passion  of  his  old  age,  no  longer  able  to 
control  his  hatred  of  the  Dean,  associated  with  himself  two 
other  bishops  of  like  opinion  and  spirit  in  the  ignoble  work  of 
making  trouble  for  Colet.  They  resorted  to  their  usual  weapon 
— persecution.  They  exhibited  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
articles  against  Colet  extracted  from  his  sermons.  Their  first 
charge  was  that  he  had  preached  that  images  ought  not  to  be 
worshipped.  The  second  charge  was  that  he  had  denied  that 
Christ,  when  He  commanded  Peter  the  third  time  to  "  feed  his 
lambs,"  made  any  allusion  to  the  application  of  episcopal 
revenues  in  hospitality  or  anything  else,  seeing  that  Peter  was 
a  poor  man,  and  had  no  episcopal  revenues  at  all.  The  third 
charge  was,  that  in  speaking  once  from  his  pulpit  of  those  who 
were  accustomed  to  read  their  sermons,  he  meant  to  give  a 
side-hit  at  the  Bishop  of  London,  who,  on  account  of  his  old 
age,  was  in  the  habit  of  reading  his  sermons. 

But  the  Archbishop,  thoroughly  appreciating  as  he  did  the 
high  qualities  of  the  Dean,  became  his  protector  and  advocate, 
instead  of  his  judge.  Colet  himself,  says  Erasmus,  did  not 
deign  to  make  any  reply  to  these  foolish  charges,  and  others 
"  more  foolish  still."  Arid  the  Archbishop,  therefore,  without 
hearing  any  repjy,  indignantly  rejected  them. 

What  the  charges  more  foolish  still  may  have  been  Erasmus 
does  not  record.  But  Tyndale  mentions,  as  a  well-known 
fact,  that  "  the  Bishop  of  London  would  have  made  Dean  Colet 
of  Paules  a  heretic  for  translating  the  Paternoster  in  English,  had 
not  the  [Archjbishop  of  Canterbury  helped  the  Dean."  Colet's 
English  translation  or  paraphrase  of  the  Paternoster  still  remains 

*  The  first  edition  was  printed  at  Paris  by  Badius.  Another  was  printed 
by  Schurerius  (Argentorat.),  January  1513.  And,  in  Oct.  1514,  Erasmus 
sent  to  Schurerius  a  revised  copy  for  publication. 

I 


158 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 12 


to  show  that  he  was  open  to  the  charge.^    But  for  once,  at  • 
least,  the  persecutor  was  robbed  of  his  prey !  '•■ 

For  a  while,  indeed,  Colet's  voice  had  been  silenced;  but; 
now  Erasmus  was  able  to  congratulate  his  friend  on  his  return  i 
to  his  post  of  duty  at  St.  Paul's. 

"  I  was  delighted  to  hear  from  you  "  [he  wrote  from  Cam-  j 
bridge],  "  and  have  to  congratulate  you  that  you  have  returned  ; 
to  your  most  sacred  and  useful  work  of  preaching.  I  fancy  ] 
even  this  little  interruption  will  be  overruled  for  good,  for  i 
your  people  will  listen  to  your  voice  all  the  more  eagerly  for  ; 
having  been  deprived  of  it  for  a  while.    May  Jesus,  Optimus  \ 

ilfawcmw^,  keep  you  in  safety !  "  \ 

'i 
.  \ 

III.   MORE  IN  TROUBLE  AGAIN  (1512)  j 

In  closing  this  chapter,  it  may  perhaps  be  remarked  that  \ 
little  has  been  heard  of  More  during  these  the  first  years  of  his  ; 
return  to  public  life.  \ 

The  fact  is,  that  he  had  been  too  busy  to  write  many  letters  : 
even  to  Erasmus.     He  had  been  rapidly  drawn  into  the  vortex  .' 
of  public  business.    His  judicial  office  of  undersheriff  of  London  j 
had  required  his  close  attention  every  Thursday.    His  private  \ 
practice  at  the  bar  had  also  in  the  meantime  rapidly  increased,  \ 
and  drawn  largely  on  his  time.     When  Erasmus  wrote  to  know 
what  he  was  doing,  and  why  he  did  not  write,  the  answer  was 
that  More  was  constantly  closeted  with  the  Lord  Chancellor,  j 
engaged  in  "  grave  business,"  and  would  write  if  he  could.  \ 
What  leisure  he  could  snatch  from  these  public  duties  he  would 
seem  to  have  been  devoting  to  his  History  of  Richard  1 11.^  the  \ 
materials  for  which  he  probably  obtained  through  his  former  i 
connection  with  Cardinal  Morton.  j 

And  were  we  to  lift  the  veil  from  his  domestic  life,  we  should  j 
find  the  dark  shadow  of  sorrow  cast  upon  his  bright  home  in  \ 
Bucklersbury.  But  a  few  short  months  ago,  such  was  the  air  \ 
of  happiness  about  that  household,  that  Ammonius,  writing  as  j 
he  often  did  to  Erasmus,  to  tell  him  all  the  news,  whilst  betray-  ) 
ing,  by  the  endearing  epithets  he  used,  his  fascination  for  the  '\ 

^  "  The  Seven  Peticyons  of  the  Paternoster,  by  Joan  Colet,  Deane  of  \ 
Paules,"  inserted  in  the  collection  of  Prayer  entitled  Horce  beate  Marie  | 
Virginis  secundum  usum  Sarum  totaliter  ad  longum. — Knight's  Life  of  Colet,  I 
App.  Miscellanies,  No.  xii.  p.  450.  I 

*  "  Written  by  Master  Thomas  More,  then  one  of  the  undersheriffs  of  " 
London,  about  the  year  1513." — Morels  English  Works,  p.  35, 


1512]  More's  Domestic  Sorrow  159 

loveliness  of  More's  own  gentle  nature,  had  spoken  also  of  his 
"  most  good-natured  wife,"  and  of  the  "  children  and  whole 
family  "  as  "  charmingly  well." 

Now  four  motherless  children  nestle  round  their  widowed 
father's  knee.^  Margaret,  the  eldest  daughter — the  child  of 
six  years  old — henceforth  it  will  be  her  lot  to  fill  her  lost  mother's 
place  in  her  father's  heart,  and  to  be  a  mother  to  the  little  ones. 
And  she  too  is  not  unknown  to  fame.     It  was  she 

.  .  .  who  clasped  in  her  last  trance 
Her  murdered  father's  head.  .  .  . 

^  The  date  of  the  death  of  More's  first  wife  it  is  not  easy  exactly  to  fix. 
Cresacre  More  says,  "  His  wife  Jane,  as  long  as  she  lived,  which  was  but 
some  six  years,  brought  unto  him  almost  every  year  a  child." — Life  of  Sir 
T.  More,  p.  40.    This  would  bring  her  death  to  15 n,  or  15 12. 


i6o  The  Oxford  Reformers  [isi^i 


CHAPTER  VIII  ; 

I.   COLET  PREACHES  AGAINST  THE   CONTINENTAL  WARS — THE     j 
FIRST   CAMPAIGN  (1512-I3)  \ 

If  Colet  returned  to  his  pulpit  after  a  narrow  escape  of  being; 
burned  for  heresy,  it  was  to  continue  to  do  his  duty,  and  not^ 
to  preach  in  future  only  such  sermons  as  might  escape  the' 
censure  of  his  bishop.  His  honesty  and  boldness  were  soon] 
again  put  to  the  test. 

It  was  in  the  summer  of  1512  that  Henry  VIII.  for  the  first; 
time  mingled  the  blood  of  English  soldiers  in  those  Continental] 
wars  which  now  for  some  years  became  the  absorbing  object? 
of  attention.  :; 

European  rulers  had  not  yet  accepted  the  modern  notion  of; 
territorial  sovereignty.  Instead  of  looking  upon  themselves! 
as  the  rulers  of  nations,  living  within  the  settled  boundaries  of] 
their  respective  countries,  they  still  thirsted  for  war  and  con-| 
quest,  and  dreamed  of  universal  dominion.  To  how  great  an  5 
extent  this  was  so,  a  glance  at  the  ambitious  schemes  of  the] 
chief  rulers  of  Europe  at  this  period  will  show.  j 

How  Pope  Julius  II.  was  striving  to  add  temporal  to  spiritual] 
sovereignty,  and  desired  to  be  the  "lord  and  master  of  the;< 
game  of  the  world,"  has  been  already  noticed  in  mentioning  j 
how  it  called  forth  the  satire  of  Erasmus,  in  his  Praise  of  Folly,  i 
This  warlike  pope  was  still  fighting  in  his  old  age.    Side  by  side  ] 
with  Pope  Julius  was  Caesar  Maximilian,  Archduke  of  Austria,  \ 
king  of  the  Romans,  emperor  of  Germany,  etc. — fit  reptesenta-  ■ 
tive  of  the  ambitious  House  of  Hapsburg !    Not  contented  with 
all  these  titles  and  dominions,  Maximilian  was  intriguing  to 
secure  by  marriages  the  restoration  of  Hungary  and  Bohemia, 
and  the  annexation  of  the  Netherlands,  Franche-Comte,  and 
Artois,  as  well  as  of  Castile  and  Arragon,  to  the  titles  and  pos- 
sessions of  his  royal  house.    And  what  he  could  not  secure  by 
marriages  he  was  trying  to  secure  by  arms.    Had  his  success 
equalled  his  lust  of  dominion,  east  and  west  would  have  been 
united  in  the  one  "  Holy  Empire  "  of  which  he  dreamed,  in- 
dependent even  of  Papal  interference,  and  hereditary  for  ever 


ISI2]  European  Politics  i6i 

in  the  House  of  Hapsburg.  Then  there  was  Louis  XII.,  the 
"  Most  Christian  "  king  of  France,  laying  claim  to  a  great  part 
of  Italy,  pushing  his  influence  and  power  so  far  as  to  strike 
terror  into  the  minds  of  other  princes;  assuming  to  himself 
the  rank  of  the  first  prince  in  Christendom;  his  chief  minister 
aspiring  to  succeed  Julius  II.  in  the  Papal  chair;  his  son  Francis 
ready  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  empire  on  the  death  of 
Maximilian.  And,  lastly,  there  was  Henry  VIII.  of  England, 
eager  to  win  his  spurs,  and  to  achieve  military  renown  at  the 
first  opportunity;  reviving  old  obsolete  claims  on  the  crown  of 
France;  ready  to  offer  himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  Empire 
when  it  became  vacant,  and  to  plot  to  secure  the  election  of 
Wolsey  to  the  Papal  chair!  Throw  all  these  rival  claims  and 
objects  of  ambition  into  a  wild  medley,  consider  to  what  plots 
and  counterplots,  leagues  and  breaches  of  them,  all  this  vast 
entanglement  of  interests  and  ambitions  must  give  rise,  and  some 
faint  idea  may  be  gained  of  the  state  of  European  politics. 

Already  in  December  151 1,  a  Holy  Alliance  had  been  formed 
between  Pope  Julius,  Maximilian,  Ferdinand,  and  Henry  VIII., 
to  arrest  the  conquests  and  humble  the  ambition  of  Louis  XII. 
How  the  clergy  had  been  induced  to  tax  themselves  in  support 
of  this  holy  enterprise  has  already  been  seen.  Parliament  also 
had  granted  a  subsidy  of  two-fifteenths  and  tenths,  and  had 
made  some  needful  provision  for  the  approaching  war.  Every- 
thing was  ready,  and  in  the  summer  of  15 12  the  first  English 
expedition  sailed. 

Ferdinand  persuaded  Henry  VIII.  to  aid  him  in  attacking 
Guienne,  and,  all  unused  to  the  stratagems  of  war,  he  fell  into 
the  snare.  While  his  father-in-law  was  playing  his  selfish  game, 
and  reducing  the  kingdom  of  Navarre,  Henry's  fleet  and  soldiers 
were  left  to  play  their  part  alone.  The  whole  expedition,  owing 
to  delays  and  gross  mismanagement,  wofully  miscarried.  There 
were  symptoms  of  mutiny  and  desertion;  and  at  length  the 
English  army  returned  home  utterly  demoralised,  and  in  the 
teeth  of  their  commands.  The  English  flag  was  disgraced  in 
the  eyes  of  Europe.  French  wits  wrote  biting  satires  De 
Anglorum  e  Galliis  fugd,  and  in  bitter  disappointment  Henry 
VIII.,  to  avoid  further  disgrace,  was  obliged  to  hush  up  the 
affair,  allowing  the  disbanded  soldiers  to  return  to  their  homes 
without  further  inquiry.  It  was  in  vain  that  More  replied  to 
the  French  wits  with  epigram  for  epigram,  correcting  their 
exaggerated  satire,  and  turning  the  tables  upon  their  own 
nation.      He  laid  the  foundation  of  a  controversy  by  which  he 

F 


1 62  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1512 

was  annoyed  in  after-years,  and  did  little  at  the  time  to  remove 
the  general  feeling  of  national  disgrace  which  resulted  from  this 
first  trial  of  Henry  VIII.  at  the  game  of  war. 

Meanwhile  Colet,  ever  prone  to  speak  out  plainly  what  he 
thought,  had  publicly  from  his  pulpit  expressed  his  strong  con- 
demnation of  the  war.  And  the  old  Bishop  of  London,  ever 
lying  in  wait,  like  the  persecuting  Pharisees  of  old,  to  find  an 
occasion  of  evil  against  him,  eagerly  made  use  of  this  pretext  to 
renew  the  attempt  to  get  him  into  trouble.  He  had  failed  to 
bring  down  upon  the  Dean  the  terrors  of  ecclesiastical  authority, 
but  it  would  answer  his  purpose  as  well  if  he  could  provoke 
against  him  royal  displeasure.  He  therefore  informed  the  King, 
now  eagerly  bent  upon  his  Continental  wars,  that  Colet  had  con- 
demned them;  that  he  had  publicly  preached,  in  a  sermon,  that 
an  unjust  peace  was  "to  be  preferred  before  the  justest  war.'* 
While  the  Bishop  was  thus  whispering  evil  against  him  in  the 
royal  ear,  others  of  his  party  were  zealously  preaching  up  the 
war,  and  launching  out  invectives  against  Colet  and  the  poets, 
as  they  designated  those  who  were  suspected  of  preferring 
classical  Latin  and  Greek  to  the  blotterature,  as  Colet  called  it,  of 
the  monks.  By  these  means  they  appear  to  have  hoped  to  bring 
Colet  into  disgrace,  and  themselves  into  favour,  with  the  King. 

But  it  would  seem  that  they  watched  and  waited  in  vain  for 
any  visible  sign  of  success.  The  King  appeared  strangely  in- 
different alike  to  the  treasonable  preaching  of  the  Dean  and  to 
their  own  effervescent  loyalty. 

Unknown  to  them,  the  King  sent  for  Colet,  and  privately  en- 
couraged him  to  go  on  boldly  reforming  by  his  teaching  the 
corrupt  morals  of  the  age,  and  by  no  means  to  hide  his  light  in 
times  so  dark.  He  knew  full  well,  he  said,  what  these  bishops 
were  plotting  against  him,  and  also  what  good  service  he  had 
done  to  the  British  nation  both  by  example  and  teaching.  And 
he  ended  by  saying,  that  he  would  put  such  a  check  upon  the 
attempts  of  these  men,  as  would  make  it  clear  to  others  that 
if  any  one  chose  to  meddle  with  Colet  it  would  not  be  with 
impunity ! 

Upon  this  Colet  thanked  the  King  for  his  kind  intentions, 
but,  as  to  what  he  proposed  further,  beseeched  him  to  forbear. 
*'  He  had  no  wish,"  he  said,  "  that  any  one  should  be  the  worse 
on  his  account;  he  had  rather  resign  his  preferment  than  it 
should  come  to  that." 


1513]       Colet's  Sermon  to  Henry  VIII.        163 


II.  colet's  sermon  to  henry  VIII.  (1513) 

The  spring  of  15 13  was  spent  by  Henry  VIII.  in  energetic 
preparations  for  another  campaign,  in  which  he  hoped  to  retrieve 
the  lost  credit  of  his  arms.  The  young  King,  in  spite  of  his 
regard  for  better  counsellors,  was  intent  upon  warlike  achieve- 
ments. His  first  failure  had  made  him  the  more  eager  to  rush 
into  the  combat  again.  Wolsey,  the  only  man  amongst  the  war 
party  whose  energy  and  tact  were  equal  to  the  emergency,  found 
in  this  turn  of  affairs  the  stepping-stone  to  his  own  ambitious 
fortune.  The  preparations  for  the  next  campaign  were  entrusted 
to  his  hands. 

Rumours  were  heard  that  the  French  would  be  likely  to  invade 
England  if  Henry  VIII.  long  delayed  his  invasion  of  France.  To 
meet  this  contingency,  the  sheriffs  of  Somerset  and  Dorset  had 
been  already  ordered  to  issue  proclamations  that  every  man 
between  sixty  and  sixteen  should  be  ready  in  arms  to  defend  his 
country.  Ever  and  anon  came  tidings  that  the  French  navy 
was  moving  restlessly  about  on  the  opposite  shore,  in  readiness 
for  some  unknown  enterprise.  Diplomatists  were  meanwhile 
weaving  their  wily  webs  of  diplomacy,  deceiving  and  being 
deceived.  Even  between  the  parties  to  the  League  there  were 
constant  breaches  of  confidence  and  double-dealing.  The  en- 
tangled meshes  of  international  policy  were  thrown  into  still 
greater  confusion,  in  February,  by  the  death  of  Julius  II.,  the 
head  of  the  Holy  Alliance.  The  new  Pope  might  be  a  French- 
man, instead  of  the  leader  of  the  league  against  France,  for  any- 
thing men  knew.  The  moment  was  auspicious  for  the  attempt 
to  bring  about  a  peace.  But  Henry  VIII.  was  bent  upon  war. 
He  urged  on  the  equipment  of  the  fleet,  and  was  impatient  of 
delay.  On  March  17,  he  conferred  upon  Sir  Edward  Howard 
the  high-sounding  title  of  "  Admiral  of  England,  Wales,  Ireland, 
Normandy,  Gascony,  and  Aquitaine."  On  Saturday,  the  21st, 
he  went  down  to  Plymouth  to  inspect  the  fleet  in  person,  and 
left  orders  to  the  Admiral  to  put  to  sea.  He  had  set  his  heart 
upon  his  fleet,  and  in  parting  from  Howard  commanded  him  to 
send  him  word  "  how  every  ship  did  sail."  With  his  royal  head 
thus  full  of  his  ships  and  sailors,  and  eagerly  waiting  for  tidings 
of  the  result  of  their  first  trial-trip  in  the  Channel,  Henry  VIII. 
entered  upon  the  solemnities  of  Holy  Passion  Week. 

On  Good  Friday,  the  27th,  the  King  attended  Divine  service 


164  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1513 

in  the  Chapel  Royal.  Dean  Colet  was  the  preacher  for  the  day« 
It  must  have  been  especially  difficult  and  even  painful  for  Colet, 
after  the  kindness  shown  to  him  so  recently  by  the  King,  again 
to  express  in  the  royal  presence  his  strong  condemnation  of 
the  warlike  policy  upon  which  Henry  VIII.  had  entered  in  the 
previous  year,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  which  he  was  now  so  eagerly 
preparing  for  a  second  campaign.  The  King  too,  coming 
directly  from  his  fleet  full  of  expectation,  was  not  likely  to  be  in 
a  mood  to  be  thwarted  by  a  preacher.  But  Colet  was  firm  in  his 
purpose,  and  as,  when  called  to  preach  before  Convocation,  he 
had  chosen  his  text  expressly  for  the  bishops,  so  now  in  the 
royal  presence  he  preached  his  sermon  to  the  King. 

"  He  preached  wonderfully  "  (says  Erasmus)  "  on  the  victory 
of  Christ,  exhorting  all  Christians  to  fight  and  conquer  under  the 
banner  of  their  King.  He  showed  that  when  wicked  men,  out  of 
hatred  and  ambition,  fought  with  and  destroyed  one  another, 
they  fought  under  the  banner,  not  of  Christ,  but  of  the  devil. 
He  showed,  further,  how  hard  a  thing  it  is  to  die  a  Christian 
death  [on  the  field  of  battle];  how  few  undertake  a  war  except 
from  hatred  or  ambition;  how  hardly  possible  it  is  for  those  who 
really  have  that  brotherly  love  without  which  *  no  one  can  see 
the  Lord  '  to  thrust  their  sword  into  their  brother's  blood ;  and 
he  urged,  in  conclusion,  that  instead  of  imitating  the  example  of 
Caesars  and  Alexanders,  the  Christian  ought  rather  to  follow  the 
example  of  Christ  his  Prince." 

So  earnestly  had  Colet  preached,  and  with  such  telling  and 
pointed  allusion  to  the  events  of  the  day,  that  the  King  was 
not  a  little  afraid  that  the  sermon  might  damp  the  zeal  of  his 
newly  enlisted  soldiers.  Thereupon,  like  birds  of  evil  omen,  the 
enemies  of  Colet  hovered  round  him  as  though  he  were  an  owl, 
hoping  that  at  length  the  royal  anger  might  be  stirred  against 
him.  The  King  sent  for  Colet.  He  came  at  the  royal  command. 
He  dined  at  the  Franciscan  monastery  adjoining  the  Palace  at 
Greenwich.  When  the  King  knew  he  was  there,  he  went  out  into 
the  monastery  garden  to  meet  him,  dismissing  all  his  attendants. 
And  when  the  two  were  quite  alone,  he  bade  Colet  to  cover  his 
head  and  be  at  ease  with  him.  "  I  did  not  call  you  here.  Dean," 
he  said  to  him,  "  to  interrupt  your  holy  labours,  for  of  these  I 
altogether  approve,  but  to  unburden  my  conscience  of  some 
scruples — that  by  your  advice  I  may  be  able  more  fully  to  do  my 
duty."  They  talked  together  nearly  an  hour  and  a  half;  Colet's 
enemies,  meanwhile,  impatiently  waiting  in  the  court,  scarcely 
able  to  contain  their  fury,  chuckling  over  the  jeopardy  in  which 


I5I3]  The  King  Supports  Colet  165 

they  thought  Colet  at  last  stood  with  the  King.  As  it  was,  the 
King  approved  and  agreed  with  Colet  in  everything  he  said. 
But  he  was  glad  to  find  that  Colet  had  not  intended  to  declare 
absolutely  that  there  could  be  no  just  war,  no  doubt  persuading 
himself  that  his  own  was  one  of  the  very  few  just  ones.  The 
conversation  ended  in  his  expressing  a  wish  that  Colet  would 
some  time  or  other  explain  himself  more  clearly,  lest  the  raw 
soldiers  should  go  away  with  a  mistaken  notion,  and  think  that 
he  had  really  said  that  no  war  is  lawful  to  Christians.^  "  And 
thus  "  (continues  Erasmus)  "  Colet,  by  his  singular  discretion 
and  moderation,  not  only  satisfied  the  mind  of  the  King,  but 
even  rose  in  his  favour."  When  he  returned  to  the  palace  at 
parting,  the  King  graciously  drank  to  his  health,  embracing  him 
most  warmly,  and,  promising  all  the  favours  which  it  was  in  the 
power  of  a  most  loving  prince  to  grant,  dismissed  him.  Colet 
was  no  sooner  gone  than  the  courtiers  flocked  again  round  the 
King,  to  know  the  result  of  his  conference  in  the  convent  garden. 
Whereupon  the  King  repHed,  in  the  hearing  of  all:  "  Let  every 
one  have  his  own  doctor,  and  let  every  one  favour  his  own;  this 
man  is  the  doctor  for  me."  Upon  this  the  hungry  wolves  de- 
parted without  their  bone,  and  thereafter  no  one  ever  dared  to 
meddle  with  Colet.  This  is  Erasmus's  version  of  an  incident 
which,  especially  when  placed  in  its  proper  historical  setting, 
may  be  looked  upon  as  a  jewel  in  the  crown  both  of  the  young 
King  and  of  his  upright  subject.  It  has  been  reported  that  Colet 
complied  with  the  King's  wish,  and  preached  another  sermon  in 
favour  of  the  war  against  France,  of  the  necessity  and  justice  of 
which,  as  strictly  defensive,  the  King  had  convinced  him.  But 
with  reference  to  this  second  sermon,  if  ever  it  was  preached, 
Erasmus  is  silent. 


III.   THE   SECOND   CAMPAIGN   OF  HENRY  VIII.  (1513) 

While  the  King  was  trying  to  pacify  his  conscience,  and  allay 
the  scruples  raised  in  his  mind  by  Colet's  preaching,  his  am- 
bassador (West)  was  listening  to  a  Good  Friday  sermon  at  the 
Chapel  Royal  of  Scotland,  and  using  the  occasion  to  urge  upon 
the  Queen  to  use  her  influence  with  the  Scotch  king  in  favour  of 

^  Colet,  and  Erasmus,  and  More,  notwithstanding  their  very  severe 
condemnation  of  the  wars  of  the  period,  and  wars  in  general,  never  went 
so  far  as  to  lay  down  the  doctnne,  that  "  All  War  is  unlawful  to  the 
Christian." 


1 66  The  Oxford  Reformers  C^sis  | 

i 

peace  with  England.  There  were  rumours  that  the  Scotch  king  j 
was  playing  into  the  hands  of  the  King  of  France — that  he  was  ' 
going  to  send  a  "  great  ship  "  to  aid  him  in  his  wars.  A  legacy  | 
happened  to  be  due  from  England  to  the  Queen  of  Scotland,  and  j 
West  was  instructed  to  threaten  to  withhold  payment  unless  \ 
James  would  promise  to  keep  the  peace  with  England.  James  ■ 
gave  shuffling  and  unsatisfactory  repUes.  There  were  troubles  | 
ahead  in  that  quarter !  i 

The  news  sent  by  West  from  Scotland  must  have  raised  some  j 
forebodings  in  Henry's  mind.  The  chance  of  finding  one  enemy  I 
behind  him,  if  he  attempted  to  invade  France,  in  itself  was  not  \ 
encouraging.  As  to  any  scruples  raised  by  Colet's  preaching,  | 
his  head  was  probably  far  too  full  of  the  approaching  campaign,  I 
and  his  heart  too  earnestly  set  upon  the  success  of  his  fleet,  to  I 
admit  of  his  impartially  considering  the  right  and  the  wrong  of  I 
the  war  in  which  he  was  already  involved,  or  the  evils  it  would  \ 
bring  upon  his  country.  Meanwhile,  probably  only  a  few  days  | 
after  Colet's  sermon  was  preached,  the  anxiously  expected  news  1 
reached  England  of  the  election  to  the  Papal  chair  of  Cardinal  i 
de'  Medici,  an  acquaintance  of  Erasmus,  and  the  fellow-student  i 
of  his  friend  Linacre,  under  the  title  of  Leo  X.  The  letter  which  j 
conveyed  the  news  to  Henry  VIII.  spoke  of  the  "  gentleness,  > 
innocence,  and  virtue  "  of  the  new  Pope,  and  his  anxiety  for  a ; 
universal  peace.  He  had  declared  that  he  would  abide  by  the  i 
League,  but  the  writer  expressed  his  opinion  that  "  he  would  not  i 
be  fond  of  war  like  Julius — that  he  would  favour  literature  and  i 
the  arts,  and  employ  himself  in  building  [St.  Peter's],  but  not ; 
enter  upon  any  war  except  from  compulsion,  unless  it  might  be  ; 
against  the  infidels." 

Henry — just  then  receiving  reports  from  his  fleet,  dating  to : 
April  5,  full  of  eager  expectation  and  confidence  on  the  part  of  \ 
the  Admiral,  "  that  an  engagement  with  the  French  might  be  I 
looked  for  in  five  or  six  days,  and  that  by  the  aid  of  God  and  of ! 
St.  George  they  hoped  to  have  a  fair  day  with  them  " — was  not  \ 
at  all  in  a  humour  to  hear  of  a  general  peace.  So  on  April  12,  | 
all  good  advice  of  Colet's  forgotten,  he  wrote  to  his  minister; 
at  Rome,  instructing  him  to  express  his  joy  that  Leo  X.  had : 
adhered  to  the  Holy  League,  and  to  state  that  he  (Henry)  could ; 
not  think  of  entertaining  any  propositions  for  peace,  considering ; 
the  magnitude  and  vast  expense  of  his  preparations,  at  all  events ; 
without  the  consent  of  all  parties.  A  fleet  of  12,000  soldiers,  \ 
the  minister  was  to  say,  was  already  at  sea,  and  Henry  wasj 
preparing  to  invade  France  himself  with  40,000  more,  and; 


I5I3]  Military  Disasters  167 

powerful  artillery.  It  would  be  most  expedient  to  cripple  the 
power  of  the  King  of  France  now,  and  prevent  his  ambition  for 
the  future. 

This  letter  was  written  on  April  12.  On  the  17th  Sir  Arthur 
Plantagenet  came  with  letters  from  the  fleet,  under  leave  of 
absence.  He  could  ill  be  spared,  wrote  the  Admiral;  but  his 
ship  had  struck  upon  a  rock,  and  in  great  peril  he  had  made  a 
vow  that,  if  it  pleased  God  to  deliver  him,  he  would  not  eat  flesh 
or  fish  till  he  had  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  Our  Lady  of 
Walsingham;  and  accordingly  thither  he  was  bound. 

This  was  only  the  beginning  of  troubles.  On  April  25, 
Admiral  Howard,  with  a  personal  bravery  and  daring  which 
immortalised  his  name,  boarded  the  ship  of  the  French  admiral 
with  sixteen  companions,  but,  in  the  struggle  which  ensued,  was 
thrust  overboard  with  "  morris  pykes  "  and  lost.  The  Enghsh 
fleet,  disheartened  by  the  loss  of  its  brave  admiral,  returned  to 
Plymouth  without  proper  orders,  and  without  having  inflicted 
any  considerable  blow  upon  the  French  fleet. 

The  King,  just  then  preparing  to  cross  over  to  Calais  with 
his  main  army,  to  invade  France  in  person,  hastily  appointed 
Thomas  Lord  Howard  admiral  in  the  place  of  his  brother;  and 
in  letters  to  the  captains  gave  vent  to  his  royal  displeasure  at 
their  return  to  Plymouth  without  his  orders — letters  which  dis- 
heartened still  more  an  army  which  the  new  Admiral  found 
"  very  badly  ordered,  more  than  half  on  land,  and  a  great  number 
stolen  away." 

But  still  Henry  was  determined  to  press  on  with  his  enterprise. 
He  wrote  to  his  ambassadors  to  urge  the  King  of  Spain  at  once 
to  invade  Guienne  or  Gascony,  as  the  English  navy,  though 
amounting  to  10,000  men,  was  not  suflScient  to  meet  the  com- 
bined forces  of  the  enemy  without  Ferdinand's  aid.  Yet  for  all 
this,  they  were  to  say,  "  he  would  not  forbear  the  invasion  of 
France."  He  was  not  even  deterred  by  receipt  of  intelligence, 
before  he  set  sail,  that  his  treacherous  father-in-law  had  already 
forsaken  him,  and  made  a  year's  truce  with  France.  On  June  30, 
the  watchers  on  the  walls  of  Calais  beheld  the  King,  with  "such 
a  fleet  as  Neptune  never  saw  before,"  approaching  amid  "great 
firing  of  guns  from  the  ships  and  towers,"  to  commence  in  good 
earnest  his  invasion  of  France. 

Little  as  did  the  "  Oxford  Reformers  "  sympathise  with  the 
war,  they  were  no  indifferent  spectators.  Even  Erasmus  for  the 
time  could  not  but  share  the  feelings  of  an  Englishman,  though 
he  had  many  friends  in  France  and  hated  the  war.     From  the 


1 68  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1513 

list  of  the  ships  of  the  navy,  in  the  handwriting  of  Wolsey,  it 
appears  that  one  or  more  of  them  had  been  christened  Erasmus. 
Some  of  his  intimate  friends  followed  the  army  in  the  King's 
retinue.  Ammonius,  the  King's  Latin  secretary,  was  one  of 
them;  and  Erasmus  was  kept  informed  by  his  letters  of  what 
was  going  on,  and  amused  by  his  quaint  sketches  of  camp-life. 
He  was  even  ready  himself  with  an  epigram  upon  the  flight  of 
the  French  after  the  Battle  (or  rather  the  no-battle)  of  Spurs. 
He  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  turn  the  tables  upon  the 
French  poets,  who  had  indulged  their  vein  of  satire  at  the 
expense  of  the  English  during  the  last  year's  campaign,  and  had 
thereby  so  nettled  the  spirit  of  More  and  his  friends.  To  the 
De  Anglorum  e  Galliis  fugd  of  the  French  poet,  Erasmus  was 
now  ready  with  a  still  more  biting  satire.  In  fugam  Gallorum 
insequentibus  Anglis.  More  also  wrote  an  epigram,  in  which  he 
contrasted  the  bloody  resistance  of  the  Nervii  to  Caesar  with  the 
feeble  opposition  offered  by  their  modem  French  successors  to 
Henry  VIII. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  here  to  follow  the  details  of  the  cam- 
paign. Suffice  it  to  say  that,  like  the  first  game  of  a  child,  it 
was  carelessly  and  blunderingly  played — not,  however,  without 
buoyant  spirit,  and  that  air  of  exaggerated  grandeur  which 
betokens  the  inexperienced  hand.  The  towns  of  Terouenne  and 
Tournay  were  indeed  taken,  and  that  without  much  bloodshed  ; 
but  they  were  taken  under  the  selfish  advice  of  Maximilian,  who 
throughout  never  lost  sight  of  his  own  interest,  and  was  pleased 
enough  to  use  the  lavish  purse  and  the  ardent  ambition  of  his 
young  ally  to  his  own  advantage.  The  power  of  France  was  not 
crippled  by  the  taking  of  these  unimportant  towns.  The  whole 
enterprise  was  confined  within  the  narrow  limits  of  so  remote  a 
corner  of  France  that  her  soil  could  hardly  be  regarded  as  really 
invaded.  So  small  a  portion  of  the  French  army  was  engaged  in 
opposing  it  that  it  was  scarcely  a  war  with  Louis  XII.  Henry 
VIII.  himself  spent  more  time  in  tournaments  and  brilliant 
pageants  than  in  actual  fighting.  He  was  emphatically  playing 
at  the  game  of  war. 

But  while  Henry  was  thus  engaged  in  France,  King  James  of 
Scotland,  in  spite  of  treaties  and  promises,  treacherously  took 
opportunity  to  cross  the  borders  and  recklessly  to  invade 
England  with  a  large  but  ill-trained  army.  Queen  Katherine, 
whom  Henry  had  appointed  Regent  during  his  absence,  sharing 
his  love  of  chivalrous  enterprise,  zealously  mustered  what  forces 
were  left  in  England;  and  thus  it  came  about,  that  just  as  Henry 


IS13]  Erasmus  at  Walsingham  169 

was  entering  Tournay,  the  news  arrived  of  the  Battle  of  Flodden. 
From  500  to  1000  Enghsh  and  about  1 0^000  Scotch,  it  was  re- 
ported, lay  dead  upon  that  bloody  field.  The  King  of  Scots  fell 
near  his  banner,  and  at  his  side  Scotch  bishops,  lords,  and  noble- 
men, amongst  whom  was  the  friend  and  pupil  of  Erasmus — the 
young  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews.  Queen  Katherine  wrote, 
with  a  thankful  heart,  to  her  royal  husband,  giving  an  account  of 
the  great  victory,  and  informing  him  that  she  was  about  to  go  on 
pilgrimage  to  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham,  in  performance  of  past 
promises,  and  to  pray  for  his  return. 

Before  the  end  of  October  the  King,  finding  nothing  better 
to  do,  amid  great  show  of  triumph  returned  to  England.  Thus 
ended  this  second  campaign,  with  just  sufficient  success  to 
induce  the  King  and  Wolsey  to  prepare  for  a  third. 


IV.   ERASMUS  VISITS  THE   SHRINE  OF  OUR  LADY  OF 
WALSINGHAM  (1513) 

While  Sir  Arthur  Plantagenet  and  Queen  Katherine  were 
going  on  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  Our  Lady  of  Walsingham, 
to  give  thanks,  the  one  for  the  defeat  of  the  Scots,  and  the 
other  for  deliverance  from  shipwreck,  Erasmus  took  it  into  his 
head  to  go  on  pilgrimage  also.  He  had  told  his  friend  Am- 
monius,  in  May,  that  he  meant  to  visit  the  far-famed  shrine  to 
pray  for  the  success  of  the  Holy  League,  and  to  hang  up  a  Greek 
Ode  as  a  votive  offering.  He  appears  to  have  made  the  pilgrim- 
age from  Cambridge  in  the  autumn  of  15 13,  accompanied  by  his 
young  friend  Robert  Aldridge,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Carlisle. 
It  was  probably  this  visit  which  Erasmus  so  graphically  de- 
scribed many  years  afterwards  in  his  Colloquy  of  the  Religious 
Pilgrimage. 

The  College  of  Canons,  under  their  Sub-prior,  maintained 
chiefly  by  the  offerings  left  by  pilgrims  upon  the  Virgin's  altar; 
the  Priory  Church,  a  relic  of  which  still  stands  to  attest  its 
architectural  beauty;  the  small  unfinished  chapel  of  the  Virgin 
herself,  the  sea-winds  whistling  through  its  unglazed  windows; 
the  inner  windowless  wooden  chapel,  with  its  two  doors  for 
pilgrims'  ingress  and  egress;  the  Virgin's  shrine,  rich  in  jewels, 
gold  and  silver  ornaments,  lit  up  by  burning  tapers;  the  dim 
religious  light  and  scented  air;  the  Canon  at  the  altar,  with 
jealous  eye  watching  each  pilgrim  and  his  gift,  and  keeping 
guard  against  sacrilegious  theft;  the  little  wicket  in  the  gateway 


170  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1513 

through  the  outer  wall,  so  small  that  a  man  must  stoop  low  to 
pass  through  it,  and  yet  through  which,  by  the  Virgin's  aid, 
an  armed  knight  on  horseback  once  escaped  from  his  pursuer; 
the  plate  of  copper,  on  which  the  knight's  figure  was  engraved 
in  ancient  costume  with  a  beard  like  a  goat,  and  his  clothes 
fitting  close  to  his  body,  with  scarcely  so  much  as  a  wrinkle  in 
them;  the  little  chapel  towards  the  east,  containing  the  middle 
joint  of  St.  Peter's  finger,  so  large,  the  pilgrims  thought,  that 
Peter  must  needs  have  been  a  very  lusty  man;  the  house  hard 
by,  which  it  was  said  was  ages  ago  brought  suddenly,  one  winter 
time,  when  all  things  were  covered  with  snow,  from  a  place  a 
great  way  off  (though  to  the  eyes  of  Erasmus  its  thatch,  timber, 
walls,  and  everything  about  it,  seemed  of  modern  date);  the 
concreted  milk  of  the  Holy  Virgin,  which  looked  like  beaten 
chalk  tempered  with  the  white  of  an  egg;  the  bold  request  of 
Erasmus,  to  be  informed  what  evidence  there  was  of  its  really 
being  the  milk  of  the  Virgin;  the  contracted  brows  of  the 
verger,  as  he  referred  them  to  the  "  authentic  record  "  of  its 
pedigree,  hung  up  high  against  the  wall — all  this  is  described 
with  so  much  of  the  graphic  detail  of  an  eyewitness,  that  one 
feels,  in  reading  the  "  Colloquy,"  that  it  must  record  the  writer's 
vivid  recollections  of  his  own  experience. 

The  concluding  incident  of  the  "  Colloquy,"  whether  referring 
to  a  future  visit,  or  only  an  imaginary  one,  evidently  alludes  to 
the  Greek  Ode  mentioned  in  the  letter  to  Ammonius.  It  tells 
how  that,  before  they  left  the  place,  the  Sub-prior,  with  some 
hesitation,  modestly  ventured  to  ask  whether  his  present 
visitor  was  the  same  man  who,  about  two  years  before,  had  hung 
up  a  votive  tablet  inscribed  in  Hebrew  letters:  for  Erasmus 
remarks,  they  call  everything  Hebrew  which  they  cannot 
understand.  The  Sub-prior  is  then  made  to  relate  what  great 
pains  had  been  taken  to  read  the  Greek  verses ;  what  wiping  of 
glasses;  how  one  wise  man  thought  they  were  written  in  Arabic 
letters,  and  another  in  altogether  fictitious  ones;  how  at  length 
one  had  been  able  to  make  out  the  title,  which  was  Latin  written 
in  Roman  capitals — the  verses  themselves  being  in  Greek,  and 
written  in  Greek  capitals.  In  reward  for  the  explanation  and 
translation  of  the  Ode,  the  "  Colloquy  "  goes  on  to  relate  that 
the  Sub-prior  pulled  out  of  his  bag  and  presented  to  his  visitors 
a  piece  of  wood  cut  from  a  beam  on  which  the  Virgin  mother  had 
been  seen  to  rest. 

Whether  this  concluding  incident  related  in  the  "  Colloquy  " 
was  a  real  occurrence  or  not,  it,  at  all  events,  confirms  the 


ISI3]  Erasmus  at  Walsingham  171 

testimony  of  the  "  Colloquy  "  itself  to  the  fact  that  Erasmus 
made  this  pilgrimage  in  a  satirical  and  unbelieving  mood,  and 
that  his  votive  ode  was  rather  a  joke  plaj'^ed  upon  the  ignorant 
canons,  than  any  proof  that  he  himself  was  a  worshipper  of 
the  Virgin,  or  a  believer  in  the  efficacy  of  pilgrimages  to  her 
shrine. 


172  The  Oxford  Reformers  C1513 


CHAPTER  IX 

I.  ERASMUS  LEAVES   CAMBRIDGE,   AND   MEDITATES 
LEAVING  ENGLAND  (1513-I4) 

During  the  autumn  of  1513  Erasmus  made  up  his  mind  to  leave 
Cambridge.  He  had  come  to  England  on  the  accession  of 
Henry  VIII.  with  full  purpose  to  make  it  his  permanent  home. 
That  his  friends  would  try  to  bring  this  about  had  been  his  last 
entreaty  on  leaving  England  for  his  visit  to  Italy.  They  had 
done  their  best  for  him.  They  had  found  all  who  cared  for  the 
advance  of  learning  anxious  to  secure  the  residence  of  so  great 
a  scholar  in  their  own  country.  The  promises  were  indeed 
vague,  but  there  were  plenty  of  them,  and  altogether  the  chances 
of  a  fair  maintenance  for  Erasmus  had  appeared  to  be  good. 
He  had  settled  at  Cambridge  intending  to  earn  his  living  by 
teaching  Greek  to  the  students ;  expecting,  from  them  and  from 
the  University,  fees  and  a  stipend  sufficient  to  enable  him  to 
pay  his  way.  But  the  drudgery  of  teaching  Greek  was  by  no 
means  the  work  upon  which  Erasmus  had  set  his  heart.  It  was 
rather,  like  St.  Paul's  tent-making,  the  price  he  had  to  pay  for 
that  leisure  which  he  was  bent  upon  devoting  to  his  real  work. 
This  work  was  his  fellow-work  with  Colet.  Apart  from  the  aid 
he  was  able  to  give  to  his  friend,  by  taking  up  the  cudgels  for 
him  at  the  University,  and  finding  him  teachers  and  schoolbooks 
for  his  school — for  all  this  was  done  by  the  bye — he  was  labour- 
ing to  make  his  own  proper  contribution  towards  the  object  to 
which  both  were  devoting  their  all.  He  was  labouring  hard  to 
produce  an  edition  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  original  Greek, 
with  a  new  and  free  translation  of  his  own,  and  simultaneously 
with  this  a  corrected  edition  of  the  works  of  St.  Jerome — the 
latter  in  itself  an  undertaking  of  enormous  labour. 

In  letters  written  from  Cambridge  during  the  years  1511-1513, 
we  catch  stray  glimpses  of  the  progress  of  these  great  works. 
He  writes  to  Colet,  in  August  151 1,  that  "  he  is  about  attacking 
St.  Paul,"  and  in  July  1512,  that  he  has  finished  collating  the 
New  Testament,  and  is  attacking  St.  Jerome. 

To  Ammonius,  in  the  camp,  during  the  French  campaign  of 
1513,  he  writes  that  he  is  working  with  almost  superhuman 


1513]  Erasmus  at  Cambridge  173 

zeal  at  the  correction  of  the  text  of  St.  Jerome;  and  shortly- 
after  the  close  of  the  campaign  against  France^  he  tells  his 
friend  that  "  he  himself  has  been  waging  no  less  fierce  a  warfare 
with  the  blunders  of  Jerome."  And  now,  with  his  editions  of 
the  New  Testament  and  Jerome  nearly  ready  for  the  press,  why- 
should  he  waste  any  further  time  at  Cambridge?  He  had 
complained  from  the  first  that  he  could  get  nothing  out  of  the 
students.^  All  these  years  he  had  been,  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts 
and  notwithstanding  an  annual  stipend  secured  upon  a  living 
in  Kent,  through  the  kindness  of  Warham,  to  a  great  extent 
dependent  on  his  friends,  obliged  most  unwillingly  to  beg,  till 
he  had  become  thoroughly  ashamed  of  begging.  And  now  this 
autumn  of  15 13  had  brought  matters  to  a  crisis.  At  Michaelmas 
the  University  had  agreed  to  pay  him  thirty  nobles,  and,  on 
September  i,  they  had  begged  the  assistance  of  Lord  Mount  joy 
in  the  payment  of  this  "  enormous  stipend  "  for  their  Greek 
professor,  adding,  by  way  of  pressing  the  urgency  of  their 
claim,  that  they  must  otherwise  soon  lose  him. 

On  November  28,  Erasmus  wrote  to  Ammonius  that  he  had 
for  some  months  lived  like  a  cockle  shut  up  in  his  shell,  humming 
over  his  books.  Cambridge,  he  said,  was  deserted  because  of 
the  plague;  and  even  when  all  the  men  were  there,  there  was 
no  large  company.  The  expense  was  intolerable,  the  profits 
not  a  brass  farthing.  The  last  five  months  had,  he  said,  cost 
him  sixty  nobles,  but  he  had  never  received  more  than  one  from 
his  audience.  He  was  going  to  throw  out  his  sheet-anchor  this 
winter.  If  successful  he  would  make  his  nest,  if  not  he  would 
flit. 

The  result  was  that  in  the  winter  of  1 513-14  Erasmus  finally 
left  Cambridge.  The  disbanding  of  disaffected  and  demoralised 
soldiers  had  so  increased  the  numbers  of  robbers  on  the  public 
roads,  that  travelling  in  the  winter  months  was  considered 
dangerous;  but  Erasmus  was  anxious  to  proceed  with  the 
publication  of  his  two  great  works.  He  was  in  London  by 
February  15 14. 

He  found  Parliament  sitting,  and  the  war  party  having  all 

their  own  way.    He  found  the  compliant  Commons  supporting 

by  lavish  grants  of  subsidies  Henry  VHL's  ambition  *'  to  recover 

the  realm  of  France,  his  very  true  patrimony  and  inheritance, 

^  From  the  letters  referred  to  by  Brewer,  i.  p.  963,  it  would  seem  that  he 
had  undertaken  the  education  of  a  boy  to  whom  he  had  been  "  more  than 
a  father."  This  does  not  prove  that  he  was  in  the  habit  at  Cambridge  of 
taking  private  pupils,  as  possibly  this  boy  was  placed  under  his  care  some- 
what in  the  same  way  as  More  had  been  placed  with  Cardinal  Morton. 


174  The  Oxford  Reformers  C1514 

and  to  reduce  the  same  to  his  obedience,"  and  carried  away 
by  the  fulsome  speeches  of  courtiers  who  drew  a  triumphant 
contrast  between  the  setting  fortunes  and  growing  infirmities 
of  the  French  king  and  the  prospects  of  Henry,  who,  "  like  the 
rising  sun,  was  growing  brighter  and  stronger  every  day." 
While  tax-collectors  were  pressing  for  the  arrears  of  half  a 
dozen  previous  subsidies,  and  Parliament  was  granting  new 
ones,  the  liberality  of  English  patrons  was  likely  to  decline. 
Their  heads  were  too  full  of  the  war,  and  their  purses  too  empty, 
to  admit  of  their  caring  much  at  the  moment  about  Erasmus 
and  his  literary  projects. 

No  wonder,  therefore,  that  when  his  friends  at  the  court  of 
the  Netherlands  urged  his  acceptance  of  an  honorary  place  in 
the  Privy  Council  of  Prince  Charles,  which  would  not  interfere 
with  his  Hterary  labours,  together  with  a  pension  which  would 
furnish  him  with  the  means  to  carry  them  on — no  wonder  that 
under  these  circumstances  Erasmus  accepted  the  invitation 
and  concluded  to  leave  England. 

In  reply  to  the  Abbot  of  St.  Bertin,  he  wrote  an  elegant  letter, 
gracefully  acknowledging  his  great  kindness  in  wishing  to  restore 
him  to  his  fatherland.  Not  that  he  disliked  England,  or  was 
wanting  in  patrons  there.  The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  if 
he  had  been  a  brother  or  a  father,  could  not  have  been 
kinder  to  him,  and  by  his  gift  he  still  held  the  pension  out 
of  the  living  in  Kent.  But  the  war  had  suddenly  diverted 
the  genius  of  England  from  its  ordinary  channels.  The  price  of 
everything  was  becoming  dearer  and  dearer.  The  liberality  of 
patrons  was  becoming  less  and  less.  How  could  they  do  other 
than  give  sparingly  with  so  many  war-taxes  to  pay?  He  then 
proceeded: 

"  Oh  that  God  would  deign  to  still  the  tempest  of  war!  What 
madness  is  it!  The  wars  of  Christian  princes  begin  for  the 
most  part  either  out  of  ambition  or  hatred  or  lust,  or  like  diseases 
of  the  mind.  Consider  also  by  whom  they  are  carried  on:  by 
homicides,  by  outcasts,  by  gamblers,  by  ravishers,  by  the  most 
sordid  mercenary  troops,  who  care  more  for  a  little  pay  than  for 
their  lives.  These  offscourings  of  mankind  are  to  be  received 
into  your  territory  and  your  cities  that  you  may  carry  on  war. 
Think,  too,  of  the  crimes  which  are  committed  under  pretext  of 
war,  for  amid  the  din  of  arms  good  laws  are  silent;  what  rapine, 
what  sacrilege,  what  other  crimes  of  which  decency  forbids  the 
mention!  The  demoralisation  which  it  causes  will  linger  in 
your  country  for  years  after  the  war  is  over.  .  .  . 


1 5 14]  Erasmus  Against  War       ,        175 

"It  is  much  more  glorious  to  found  cities  than  to  destroy 
them.  In  our  times  it  is  the  people  who  build  and  improve  cities, 
while  the  madness  of  princes  destroys  them.  But,  you  may  say, 
princes  must  vindicate  their  rights.  Without  speaking  rashly  of 
the  deeds  of  princes,  one  thing  is  clear,  that  there  are  some 
princes  at  least  who  first  do  what  they  like,  and  then  try  to 
find  some  pretext  for  their  deeds.  And  in  this  hurly burly  of 
human  affairs,  in  the  confusion  of  so  many  leagues  and  treaties, 
who  cannot  make  out  a  title  to  what  he  wants?  Meanwhile 
these  wars  are  not  waged  for  the  good  of  the  people,  but  to  settle 
the  question,  who  shall  call  himself  their  prince. 

"  We  ought  to  remember  that  men,  and  especially  Christian 
men,  dirtfree-mtn.  And  if  for  a  long  time  they  have  flourished 
under  a  prince,  and  now  acknowledge  him,  what  need  is  there  that 
the  world  should  be  turned  upside  down  to  make  a  change  ?  If 
even  among  the  heathen,  long-continued  consent  [of  the  people] 
makes  a  prince,  much  more  should  it  be  so  among  Christians, 
with  whom  royalty  is  an  administration,  not  a  dominion.  .  .  ." 

He  concluded  by  urging  the  abbot  to  call  to  mind  all  that 
Christ  and  his  apostles  said  about  peace,  and  the  tolerance  of 
evil.  If  he  did  so,  surely  he  would  bring  all  his  influence  to  bear 
upon  Prince  Charles  and  the  Emperor  in  favour  of  a  "  Christian 
peace  among  Christian  princes."  ^ 

In  writing  to  the  Prince  de  Vere  on  the  same  subject  Erasmus 
had  expressed  his  grief  that  their  common  country  had  become 
mixed  up  with  the  wars,  and  his  wish  that  he  could  safely  put 
in  writing  what  he  thought  upon  the  subject.  Whether  safely 
or  not,  he  had  certainly  now  dared  to  speak  his  mind  pretty  fully 
in  the  letter  to  the  Abbot  of  St.  Bertin. 

II.   ERASMUS  AND   THE  PAPAL  AMBASSADOR  (1514) 

Erasmus  had  other  opportunities  of  speaking  out  his  mind 
about  the  war. 

There  was  a  rumour  afloat  that  a  Papal  ambassador  had 
arrived  in  England — a  Cardinal  in  disguise.  It  happened  that 
Erasmus  was  invited  to  dine  with  his  friend  Ammonius.  He 
went  as  a  man  goes  to  the  house  of  an  intimate  friend,  without 
ceremony,  and  expecting  to  dine  with  him  alone.  He  found, 
however,  another  guest  at  his  friend's  table — a  man  in  a  long 
robe,  his  hair  bound  up  in  a  net,  and  with  a  single  servant  attend- 
ing him.  Erasmus,  after  saluting  his  friend,  eyed  the  stranger 
^  The  above  extracts  are  abridged  in  the  translation. 


176 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [ism 


with  some  curiosity.  Struck  by  the  military  sternness  of  the 
man's  look,  he  asked  of  Ammonius  in  Greek, "  Who  is  he  ?  "  He 
rephed,  also  in  Greek,  **  A  great  merchant."  "  I  thought  so," 
said  Erasmus;  and  caring  to  take  no  further  notice  of  him,  they 
sat  down  to  table,  the  stranger  taking  precedence.  Erasmus 
chatted  with  Ammonius  as  though  they  had  been  alone,  and, 
amongst  other  things,  happened  to  ask  him  whether  the  rumour 
was  true  that  an  ambassador  had  come  from  Leo  X.  to  negotiate  a 
peace  between  England  and  France.  "The  Pope,"  he  continued, 
"  did  not  take  me  into  his  councils;  but  if  he  had  I  should  not 
have  advised  him  to  propose  a  peace."  "  Why?  "  asked  Am- 
monius. "  Because  it  would  not  be  wise  to  talk  about  peace," 
replied  Erasmus.  "Why.?"  "Because  a  peace  cannot  be 
negotiated  all  at  once;  and  in  the  meantime,  while  the  monarchs 
are  treating  about  the  conditions,  the  soldiers,  at  the  very 
thought  of  peace,  will  be  incited  to  far  worse  projects  than  in 
war  itself;  whereas  by  a  truce  the  hands  of  the  soldiery  may  be 
tied  at  once.  I  should  propose  a  truce  of  three  years,  in  order 
that  the  terms  might  be  arranged  of  a  really  permanent  treaty  of 
peace. ^'  Ammonius  assented,  and  said  that  he  thought  this  was 
what  the  ambassador  was  trying  to  do.  "  Is  he  a  Cardinal?  " 
asked  Erasmus.  "What  made  you  think  he  was?  "  said  the 
other.  "  The  Italians  say  so."  "  And  how  do  they  know  ?  "  asked 
Ammonius,  again  fencing  with  Erasmus's  question.  "  Is  it 
true  that  he  is  a  Cardinal?  "  repeated  Erasmus  by  and  by,  as 
though  he  meant  to  have  a  straightforward  answer.  "  His 
spirit  is  the  spirit  of  a  Cardinal,"  evasively  replied  Ammonius, 
brought  to  bay  by  the  direct  question.  "It  is  something," 
observed  Erasmus,  smiling,  "  to  have  a  Cardinal's  spirit!  " 

The  stranger  all  this  time  had  remained  silent,  drinking  in 
this  conversation  between  the  two  friends. 

At  last  he  made  an  observation  or  two  in  Italian,  mixing  in  a 
Latin  word  now  and  then,  as  an  intelligent  merchant  might  be 
expected  to  do.  Seeing  that  Erasmus  took  no  notice  of  what  he 
said,  he  turned  round,  and  in  Latin  observed,  "  I  wonder  you 
should  care  to  live  in  this  barbarous  nation,  unless  you  choose 
rather  to  be  all  alone  here  thdiH  first  at  Rome." 

Erasmus,  astonished  and  somewhat  nettled  to  hear  a  merchant 
talk  in  this  way,  with  disdainful  dryness  replied  that  he  was 
living  in  a  country  in  which  there  was  a  very  great  number  of 
men  distinguished  for  their  learning.  He  had  rather  hold  the 
last  place  among  these  than  be  nowhere  at  Rome. 

Ammonius,  seeing  the  awkward  turn  that  things  were  taking. 


I5I4]  Erasmus  and  Colet  177 

and  that  Erasmus  in  his  present  humour  might  probably,  as  he 
sometimes  did,  speak  his  mind  rather  more  plainly  than  might 
be  desirable,  interposed,  and,  to  prevent  further  perplexity, 
suggested  that  they  should  adjourn  to  the  garden. 

Erasmus  found  out  afterwards  that  the  merchant  stranger 
with  whom  he  had  had  this  singular  brush  was  the  Pope's  ambas- 
sador himself — Cardinal  Canossa  I 


III.  PARTING  INTERCOURSE  BETWEEN  ERASMUS  AND  COLET  (1514) 

Meanwhile,  in  spite  of  Papal  Nuncios,  the  preparations  for 
the  continuance  of  the  war  proceeded  as  before.  There  were  no 
signs  of  peace.  The  King  had  had  a  dangerous  illness,  but  had 
risen  from  his  couch  "  fierce  as  ever  against  France." 

With  heavy  hearts  Colet  and  Erasmus  held  on  their  way. 
The  war  lay  like  a  dark  cloud  on  their  horizon.  It  was  throwing 
back  their  work.  How  it  had  changed  the  plans  of  Erasmus 
has  been  shown.  It  had  also  made  Colet's  position  one  of  greater 
difficulty.  It  is  true  that  hitherto  royal  favour  had  protected 
him  from  the  hatred  of  his  persecutors,  but  the  Bishop  of  London 
and  his  party  were  more  exasperated  against  him  than  ever,  and 
who  could  tell  how  soon  the  King's  fickle  humour  might  change? 
His  love  of  war  was  growing  wilder  and  wilder.  He  was  becom- 
ing intoxicated  by  it.  And  who  could  tell  what  the  young 
King  might  do  if  his  passions  ever  should  rise  into  mastery 
over  better  feelings  ?  Even  the  King's  present  favour,  though  it 
had  preserved  Colet  as  yet  unharmed  in  person,  did  not  prevent 
his  being  cramped  and  hindered  in  his  work.  Whatever  he 
might  do  was  sure  to  be  misconstrued,  and  to  become  the  subject 
of  the  "  idle  talk  of  the  malevolent." 

It  would  seem  also  that  other  clouds  than  that  of  the  war  cast 
their  shadow  at  this  time  over  Colet's  Hfe.  By  the  erection  and 
foundation  of  his  school,  he  had  reduced  his  income  almost  more 
than  he  could  well  afford,  and  accustomed,  as  he  was,  to  abun- 
dant means,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  be  harassed  and 
annoyed  by  anything  likely  still  further  to  narrow  his  resources. 
He  seems  to  have  been  troubled  with  vexed  questions  of  property 
and  family  dispute — most  irksome  of  all  others  to  a  man  who 
was  giving  life  and  wealth  away  in  a  great  work. 

Erasmus,  six  months  previously,  in  July  15 13,  had  written 
to  Colet  thus: — 


178 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1514 


"  The  end  of  your  letter  grieved  me,  for  you  write  that  you  I 
are  more  harassed  than  usual  by  the  troubles  of  business.  I  I 
desire  indeed  for  you  to  be  removed  as  far  as  possible  from  ] 
worldly  business;  not  because  I  am  afraid  lest  this  world,  I 
entangled  though  it  be,  should  get  hold  of  you  and  claim  you  | 
for  its  own,  but  because  I  had  rather  such  genius,  such  elo-  1 
quence,  such  learning  should  be  devoted  wholly  to  Christ.  What  j 
if  you  should  be  unable  to  extricate  yourself  from  it!  Take  'i 
care  lest  little  by  little  you  become  more  and  more  deeply  im-  | 
mersed  in  it.  Perhaps  it  might  be  better  to  give  in,  rather  than  I 
to  purchase  victory  at  so  great  a  cost.  For  peace  of  mind  is  \ 
worth  a  great  deal.  And  these  things  are  the  thorns  which  \ 
accompany  riches.  In  the  meantime,  oppose  a  good  honest  | 
conscience  to  the  idle  talk  of  the  malevolent.  Wrap  yourself  j 
up  in  Christ  and  in  him  alone,  and  this  entangled  world  will  j 
disturb  you  less.  But  why  should  I,  like  the  sow,  preach  to  \ 
Minerva;  or,  like  the  sick  man,  prescribe  for  the  doctor.^  Fare-  \ 
well,  my  best  beloved  teacher!  " — From  Cambridge,  July  11  \ 

b-S^]'  .  ( 

Six  months  had  passed  since  Erasmus  had  thus  advised  his  > 
friend  to  give  in  rather  than  to  conquer  at  the  cost  of  his  peace  \ 
of  mind,  but  Colet  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  getting  rid  of  his  j 
perplexities.  It  would  almost  seem  that  the  same  old  quarrel  ' 
was  still  lingering  on  unhealed;  for  there  was  now  a  dispute  .i 
between  Colet  and  an  aged  uncle  of  his,  and  the  bone  of  : 
contention  was  a  large  amount  of  property.  's 

One  day  Colet  took  Erasmus  with  him  by  boat  to  dine  with  j 
Archbishop  Warham  at  Lambeth  Palace.  As  they  rowed  up  \ 
the  Thames,  Colet  sat  pensively  reading  in  his  book.  At  dinner,  | 
being  set  opposite  his  uncle  at  table,  Erasmus  noticed  that  he  j 
was  ill  at  ease,  caring  neither  to  talk  nor  to  eat.  And  the  uncle  I 
would  doubtless  have  remained  as  silent  as  the  nephew,  had  ij 
not  the  archbishop  drawn  out  the  garrulousness  of  his  old  age  ' 
by  cheerful  conversation.  After  dinner  the  three  were  closeted  j 
together.  Erasmus  knew  not  what  all  this  meant.  But,  as  ■ 
they  were  rowing  back  to  town  in  the  boat,  Colet  said,  "  Erasmus,  j 
you're  a  happy  man,  and  have  done  me  a  great  service;  "  and 
then  he  went  on  to  tell  his  friend  how  angry  he  had  been  with  ] 
his  uncle,  and  how  he  had  even  thought  of  going  to  law  with  ] 
him,  but  in  this  state  of  mind,  having  taken  a  copy  of  the  ,| 
Enchiridion  with  him,  he  had  read  the  "  rule  "  there  given  \ 
'^  against  anger  and  revenge,"  and  it  had  done  him  so  much  \ 
good  that  he  had  held  his  tongue  at  dinner,  and  with  the  j 


ISI4]  Erasmus  and  Colet  179 

archbishop's  kind  assistance  after  dinner,  made  up  matters 
with  his  uncle. 

Apart  from  these  cares  and  troubles,  Colet's  heart  was  natu- 
rally saddened  with  the  thought  of  so  soon  parting  with  his 
dearest  friend,  and,  as  he  now  could  feel,  his  ablest  fellow- 
worker.  The  two  were  often  together.  Colet  sometimes  would 
send  for  Erasmus  to  be  his  companion  when  he  dined  out, 
or  when  he  had  to  make  a  journey.  At  these  times  Erasmus 
testifies  that  no  one  could  be  more  cheerful  than  Colet  was. 
It  was  his  habit  always  to  take  a  book  with  him.  His  con- 
versation often  turned  upon  religious  subjects;  and  though  in 
public  he  was  prudently  reserved  and  cautious  in  what  he  said, 
at  these  times  to  his  bosom  friend  he  most  freely  spoke  out  his 
real  sentiments. 

On  one  occasion  Colet  and  Erasmus  paid  a  visit  together  to 
the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas-^-Becket.  Going  on  pilgrimage  was 
now  the  fashionable  thing.  How  admirals  and  soldiers  who 
had  narrowly  escaped  in  the  war  went  to  the  shrine  of  Our 
Lady  at  Walsingham  to  fulfil  the  vows  they  had  made  whilst 
their  lives  were  in  peril;  how  even  Queen  Katherine  had  been 
to  invoke  the  Virgin's  aid  upon  her  husband's  French  campaign, 
and  to  return  thanks  for  the  victory  over  the  Scots,  has  already 
been  seen.  It  has  also  been  mentioned  that  Erasmus  had  paid 
a  visit  to  Walsingham  from  Cambridge  in  a  satirical  and  scep- 
tical mood,  and  had  returned  convinced  of  the  absurdity  of  the 
whole  thing,  doubting  the  genuineness  of  the  relics  and  ridicuhng 
the  credulity  of  pilgrims.  It  seems  that  before  leaving  England 
he  had  a  desire  to  pay  a  similar  visit  to  the  rival  shrine  of 
St.  Thomas-a-Becket. 

The  same  "  Colloquy  "  in  which  Erasmus  describes  his  visit 

to  Walsingham  enables  us  to  picture  the  two  friends  on  this 

occasion  threading  the  narrow  rustic  lanes  of  Kent  on  horseback, 

making  the  best  of  their  way  to  Canterbury.^ 

^  The  companion  of  Erasmus  was,  according  to  the  "  Colloquy,"  "  Gra- 
tiantis  Pullus,  an  Englishman,  learned  and  pious,  but  with  less  liking  for 
this  part  of  religion  than  I  could  wish."  "  A  Wickliffite,  I  fancy!  "  sug- 
gested the  other  spokesman  in  the  "  Colloquy."  "  I  do  not  think  so  " 
(was  the  reply),  "  although  he  had  read  his  books,  somewhere  or  other."  In 
his  letter  to  Justus  Jonas,  Erasmus  mentions  that  Colet  was  in  the  habit 
of  reading  heretical  books.  It  has  been  suggested  also  that  as  in  the  same 
letter  he  describes  Colet  as  wearing  black  .vestments  {pullis  vestibus), 
instead  of  the  usual  purple,  hence  the  name  Pullus  may  in  itself  point  to 
Colet.  There  is  also  an  allusion  by  Erasmus  in  his  treatise,  Modus  Orandi, 
to  his  visit  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas-^-Becket,  in  which  he  says,  "  Ista 
Joanni  Coleto^  nam  is  mecum  aderat,  videbantur  indigna."     This  allusion 


i8o  The  Oxford  Reformers  [ism 

As  they  approach  the  city  the  outline  of  the  cathedral  church 
rises  imposingly  above  all  surrounding  objects.     Its  two  towers 
seem  to  stand,  as  it  were,  bidding  welcome  to  approaching 
pilgrims.    The  sound  of  its  bells  rolls  through  the  country  far 
and  wide  in  melodious  peals.    At  length  they  reach  the  city,  and, 
armed  with  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Archbishop  Warham, 
enter  the  spacious  nave  of  the  cathedral.    This  is  open  to  the 
public,  and  beyond  its  own  vastness   and   solemn  grandeur 
presents  little  of  mark,  save  that  they  notice  the  gospel  of  i 
Nicodemus  among  other  books  affixed  to  the  columns,  and  \ 
here  and  there  sepulchral  monuments  of  the  nameless  dead.  I 
A  vaulted  passage  under  the  steps  ascending  to  the  iron  grating  ^ 
of  the  choir  brings  them  into  the  north  side  of  the  church.  | 
Here  they  are  shown  a  plain  ancient  wooden  altar  of  the  Virgin,  ! 
whereupon  is  exhibited  the  point  of  the  dagger  with  which  ] 
St.  Thomas's  brain  was  pierced  at  the  time  of  his  murder,  and  ■' 
whose  sacred  rust  pilgrims  are  expected  most  devoutly  to  kiss.  I 
In  the  vault  below  they  are  next  shown  the  martyr's  skull,  ; 
covered  with  silver,  save  that  the  place  where  the  dagger  pierced  i 
it  is  left  bare  for  inspection:  also  the  hair  shirt  and  girdle  with  i 
which  the  saint  was  wont  to  mortify  his  flesh.    Thence  they  J 
are  taken  into  the  choir  to  behold  its  treasures — bones  without  j 
end ;  skulls,  jaw-bones,  teeth,  hands,  fingers,  arms — to  all  which  ' 
the  pilgrim's  kiss  is  duly  expected.  ; 

But  Colet  having  had  about  enough  of  this,  begins  to  show  j 
evident  tokens  of  dislike  to  kiss  any  more.  Whereupon  the  i 
verger  piously  shuts  up  the  rest  of  his  treasures  from  the  gaze  j 
of  the  careless  and  profane.  The  high  altar  and  its  load  of  i 
costly  ornaments  next  claim  attention;  after,  which  they  pass  j 
into  the  vestry,  where  is  preserved  the  staff  of  St.  Thomas,  sur-  i 
rounded  by  a  wonderful  display  of  silk  vestments  and  golden  i 
candlesticks.  Thence  they  are  conducted  up  a  flight  of  steps  : 
into  a  chapel  behind  the  high  altar,  and  shown  the  face  of  the  i 
saint  set  in  gold  and  jewels.  Here,  again,  Colet  breaks  in  upon  , 
the  dumb  show  with  awkward  bluntness.     He  asks  the  guide  J 

to  Colet  so  accurately  comports  with  what  is  said  in  the  CoUoquy  of  ) 
"  Gratianus  Pullus,"  that  the  one  seems  most  probably  suggested  only  as  \ 
a  notn  de  plume  for  the  other.  I  am  further  indebted  to  Mr.  Lupton  for  | 
the  suggestion  that  when  Ammonius,  writing  to  Erasmus,  says  "  tuus  ; 
Leucophceus  salvere  te  jubet,"  he  alludes  to  Colet:  "  Leucophasus  "  being  . 
a  Greek  form  of  the  same  nickname  as  "  Pullus  "  might  be  in  a  Latin  form.  ] 
Mr.  Lupton  has  also  shown  that  Gratian  is  a  rendering  of  John.  See  his  \ 
introduction  to  his  edition  of  Cold  on  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church,  pp.  6,  7.  1 
So  that  the  identification  of  Colet  with  the  Gratianus  Ptillus  of  the  Colloquy  \ 
is  now  complete.  ) 


iSH]  The  Shrine  of  St.  Thomas  i8i 

whether  St.  Thomas-^-Becket  when  he  lived  was  not  very  kind 
to  the  poor.  The  verger  assents.  "  Nor  can  he  have  changed 
his  mind  on  this  point,  I  should  think/'  continues  Colet,  "  unless 
it  be  for  the  better?  "  The  verger  nods  a  sign  of  approbation. 
Whereupon  Colet  submits  the  query  whether  the  saint,  having 
been  so  liberal  to  the  poor  when  a  poor  man  himself,  would  not 
now  rather  permit  them  to  help  themselves  to  some  of  his  vast 
riches,  in  relief  of  their  many  necessities,  than  let  them  so  often 
be  tempted  into  sin  by  their  need  ?  And  the  guide  still  listening 
in  silence,  Colet  in  his  earnest  way  proceeds  boldly  to  assert  his 
own  firm  conviction  that  this  most  holy  man  would  be  even 
delighted  that,  now  that  he  is  dead,  these  riches  of  his  should 
go  to  lighten  the  poor  man's  load  of  poverty  rather  than  be 
hoarded  up  here.  At  which  sacrilegious  remark  of  Colet's  the 
verger,  contracting  his  brow  and  pouting  his  lips,  looks  upon 
his  visitors  with  a  wondering  stare  out  of  his  gorgon  eyes,  and 
doubtless  would  have  made  short  work  with  them  were  it  not 
that  they  have  come  with  letters  of  introduction  from  the  arch- 
bishop. Erasmus  throws  in  a  few  pacifying  words  and  pieces  of 
coin,  and  the  two  friends  pass  on  to  inspect,  under  the  escort 
now  of  the  prior  himself,  the  rest  of  the  riches  and  relics  of  the 
place.  All  again  proceeds  smoothly  till  a  chest  is  opened  con- 
taining the  rags  on  which  the  saint,  when  in  the  flesh,  was 
accustomed  to  wipe  his  nose  and  the  sweat  from  his  brow.  The 
prior,  knowing  the  position  and  dignity  of  Colet,  and  wishing 
to  do  him  becoming  honour,  graciously  offers  him  as  a  present 
of  untold  value  one  of  these  rags !  Colet,  breaking  through  all 
rules  of  pohteness,  takes  up  the  rag  between  the  tips  of  his 
fingers  with  a  somewhat  fastidious  air  and  a  disdainful  chuckle, 
and  then  lays  it  down  again  in  evident  disgust.  The  prior,  not 
choosing  to  take  notice  of  Colet's  profanity,  abruptly  shuts  up 
the  chest  and  politely  invites  them  to  partake  of  some  refresh- 
ment. After  which  the  two  friends  again  mount  their  horses 
and  make  the  best  of  their  way  back  to  London. 

Their  way  lies  through  a  narrow  lane,  worn  deep  by  traffic 
and  weather,  and  with  a  high  bank  on  either  side.  Colet  rides 
to  the  left  of  the  road.  Presently  an  old  mendicant  monk 
comes  out  of  a  house  ^  on  Colet's  side  of  the  way,  and  proceeds 
to  sprinkle  him  with  holy  water.  Though  not  in  the  best  of 
tempers,  Colet  submits  to  this  annoyance  without  quite  losing 
it.    But  when  the  old  mendicant  next  presents  to  him  the 

*  The  lazar-house  of  Harbledown.  See  Dean  Stanley's  Historical 
Memorials  of  Canterbury,  ed.  1868,  p.  243. 


1 82  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1514 

upper  leather  of  an  old  shoe  for  his  kiss,  Colet  abruptly  demands 
what  he  wants  with  him.    The  old  man  replies  that  the  relic 
is  a  piece  of  St.  Thomas's  shoe !    This  is  more  than  Colet  knows 
how  to  put  up  with.     "  What!  "  he  says  passionately,  turning 
to  Erasmus,  '*  do  these  fools  want  us  to  kiss  the  shoes  of  every 
good  man  ?    They  pick  out  the  filthiest  things  they  can  find  and 
ask  us  to  kiss  them."    Erasmus,  to  counteract  the  effect  of 
such  a  remark  upon  the  mind  of  the  astonished  mendicant,  gives 
him  a  trifle,  and  the  pilgrims  pass  on  their  journey,  discussing 
the  difficult  question  how  abuses  such  as  they  have  witnessed 
this  day  are  to  be  remedied.    Colet  cannot  restrain  his  indignant  \ 
feeling,  but  Erasmus  urges  that  a  rough  or  sudden  remedy  j 
might  be  worse  than  the  disease.    These  superstitions  must,  ( 
he  thinks,  be  tolerated  until  an  opportunity  arises  of  correcting  1 
them  without  creating  disorder.  i 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  graphic  picture  of  which  j 
the  above  is  only  a  rapid  sketch  was  drawn  from  actual  recollec-  ; 
tions,  and  described  the  real  feelings  of  Erasmus  and  his  bolder  ! 
friend.  ; 

Little  did  the  two  friends  dream,  as  they  rode  back  to  town 
debating  these  questions,  how  soon  they  would  find  a  final  | 
solution.  Men's  faith  was  then  so  strong  and  implicit  in  "  Our 
Lady  of  Walsingham  "  that  kings  and  queens  were  making  I 
pilgrimage  to  her  shrine,  and  the  common  people,  as  they  gazed 
Sit  night  upon  the  "  milky  way,"  believed  that  it  was  the  starry  j 
pathway  marked  out  by  heaven  to  direct  pilgrims  to  the  place  I 
where  the  milk  of  the  Holy  Virgin  was  preserved,  and  called  ! 
it  the  Walsingham  way.  Little  did  they  dream  that  in  another  \ 
five-and-twenty  years  the  canons  would  be  convicted  of  forging  ! 
relics  and  feigning  miracles,  and  the  far-famed  image  of  the  ; 
Virgin  dragged  to  Chelsea  by  royal  order  to  be  there  publicly  ; 
burned.  Then  pilgrims  were  flocking  to  Canterbury  in  crowds  i 
to  adore  the  relics  and  to  admire  the  riches  of  St.  Thomas's  j 
shrine.  Little  did  they  dream  that  in  five-and-twenty  years  ! 
St.  Thomas's  bones  would  share  the  fiery  fate  of  the  image  of  the  j 
Virgin,  and  the  gold  and  jewellery  of  St.  Thomas's  shrine  be  ] 
carried  off  in  chests  upon  the  shoulders  of  eight  stout  men  and  j 
cast  without  remorse  into  the  royal  exchequer !  | 


ISM]  Erasmus  Leaves  England  183 


CHAPTER  X 

I.   ERASMUS   GOES   TO   BASLE  TO   PRINT  HIS  NEW 
TESTAMENT  (1514) 

It  was  on  a  July  morning  in  the  year  15 14  that  Erasmus  again 
crossed  the  Channel.  The  wind  was  fair,  the  sea  calm,  the  sky 
bright  and  sunny;  but  during  the  easy  passage  Erasmus  had  a 
heavy  heart.  He  had  once  more  left  his  English  friends  behind 
him,  bent  upon  a  solitary  pilgrimage  to  Basle,  in  order  that  his 
edition  of  the  letters  of  St.  Jerome  and  his  Greek  New  Testament 
might  be  printed  at  the  press  of  Froben  the  printer.  But^ 
always  unlucky  on  leaving  British  shores,  he  missed  his  baggage 
from  the  boat  when,  after  the  bustle  of  embarkation,  he  looked 
to  see  that  all  was  right.  To  have  lost  his  manuscripts — his 
Jerome,  his  New  Testament,  the  labours  of  so  many  years — 
to  be  on  his  way  to  Basle  without  the  books  for  the  printing 
of  which  he  was  taking  the  long  journey — this  was  enough  to 
weigh  down  his  heart  with  a  grief  which  he  might  well  compare 
to  that  of  a  parent  who  has  lost  his  children.  It  turned  out, 
after  all,  to  be  a  trick  of  the  knavish  sailors,  who  threw  the 
traveller's  luggage  into  another  boat  in  order  to  extort  a  few 
coins  for  its  recovery.  Erasmus,  in  the  end,  got  his  luggage 
back  again;  but  he  might  well  say  that,  though  the  passage  was 
a  good  one,  it  was  an  anxious  one  to  him. 

On  his  arrival  at  the  castle  of  Hammes,  near  Calais,  where  he 
had  agreed  to  spend  a  few  days  with  his  old  pupil  and  friend 
Lord  Mount  joy,  he  found  waiting  for  him  a  letter  from  Servatius, 
prior  of  the  monastery  of  Stein,  in  Holland — the  monastery  into 
which  he  had  been  ensnared  when  a  youth  against  his  judgment 
by  treachery  and  foul  play. 

It  was  a  letter  doubtless  written  with  kindly  feeling,  for  the 
prior  had  once  been  his  companion;  but  still  he  evidently  took 
it  as  a  letter  from  the  prior  of  the  convent  from  which  he  was  a 
kind  of  runaway,  not  only  inviting,  but  in  measure  claiming 
him  back  again,  reproachfully  reminding  him  of  his  vows, 
censuring  his  wandering  life,  his  throwing  off  the  habit  of  his 
order,  and  ending  with  a  bribe — the  offer  of  a  post  of  great 
advantage  if  he  would  return. 


184 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [ish 


Erasmus  return!  No,  truly;  that  he  would  not!  But  the 
very  naming  of  it  brought  back  to  mind  not  only  the  wrongs 
he  had  suffered  in  his  youth;  the  cruelty  and  baseness  of  his 
guardians;  his  miserable  experience  of  monastic  life;  how  hardly  | 
he  had  escaped  out  of  it;  his  trials  during  a  chequered  wandering 
life  since;  but  also  his  entry  upon  fellow-work  with  Colet;  the 
noble-hearted  friends  with  whom  he  had  been  privileged  to 
come  in  contact;  the  noble  work  in  which  they  were  now 
engaged  together.  What !  give  up  these  to  put  his  neck  again 
under  a  yoke  which  had  so  galled  him  in  dark  times  gone  by! 
And  for  what?  To  become  perchance  the  father-confessor 
of  a  nunnery !  It  was  as  though  Pharaoh  had  sent  an  embassy 
to  Moses  offering  to  make  him  a  taskmaster  if  he  would  but 
return  into  Egypt. 

No  wonder  that  Erasmus,  finding  this  letter  from  Servatius 
waiting  for  him  on  his  arrival  at  the  castle  of  his  friend,  took  up 
his  pen  to  reply  somewhat  warmly  before  proceeding  on  his 
journey.  His  letter  hes  as  a  kind  of  waymark  by  the  roadside 
of  his  wandering  life,  and  with  some  abridgment  and  omissions 
may  be  thus  translated : — 

Erasmus  to  Servatius 

"...  Being  on  a  journey,  I  must  reply  in  but  few  words, 
and  confine  myself  to  matters  of  the  most  importance. 

"  Men  hold  opinions  so  diverse  that  it  is  impossible  to  please 
everybody.  That  my  desire  is  in  very  deed  to  follow  that  which 
is  really  the  best,  God  is  my  witness !  It  was  never  my  intention 
to  change  my  mode  of  life  or  my  habit;  not  because  I  approved 
of  either,  but  lest  I  should  give  rise  to  scandal.  You  know  well 
that  it  was  by  the  pertinacity  of  my  guardians  and  the  persuasion 
of  wicked  men  that  I  was  forced  rather  than  induced  to  enter 
the  monastic  life.  Afterwards,  when  I  found  out  how  entirely 
unsuited  it  was  for  me,  I  was  restrained  by  the  taunts  of  Cor- 
nelius Wertem  and  the  bashfulness  of  youth.  .  .  .  But  it  may 
be  objected  that  I  had  a  year  of  what  is  called  '  probation,' 
and  was  of  mature  age.  Ridiculous !  As  though  any  one  could 
require  that  a  boy  of  seventeen,  brought  up  in  literary  studies, 
should  have  attained  to  a  self-knowledge  rare  even  in  an  old 
man — should  be  able  to  learn  in  one  year  what  many  men  grow 
grey  without  learning!  Be  this  as  it  may,  I  never  liked  the 
monastic  life;  and  I  liked  it  less  than  ever  after  I  had  tried  it; 
but  I  was  ensnared  in  the  way  I  have  mentioned.    For  all  this, 


1514]  Erasmus  to  Servatius  185 

I  am  free  to  confess  that  a  man  who  is  really  a  good  man  may- 
live  well  in  any  kind  of  life. 

"  I  have  in  the  meantime  tried  to  find  that  mode  of  living 
in  which  I  should  be  least  prone  to  evil.  And  I  think  assuredly 
that  I  have  found  it;  I  have  lived  with  sober  men^  I  have  lived 
a  life  of  literary  study,  and  these  have  drawn  me  away  from 
many  vices.  It  has  been  my  lot  to  live  on  terms  of  intimacy 
with  men  of  true  Christian  wisdom,  and  I  have  been  bettered 
by  their  conversation.  .  .  .  Whenever  the  thought  has  occurred 
to  me  of  returning  into  your  fraternity  it  has  always  called  back 
to  my  remembrance  the  jealousy  of  many,  the  contempt  of  all; 
converse  how  cold,  how  trifling!  how  lacking  in  Christian 
wisdom !  f eastings  more  fit  for  the  laity !  the  mode  of  life,  as 
a  whole,  one  which,  if  you  subtract  its  ceremonies  from  it,  has 
nothing  left  that  seems  to  me  worth  having.  Lastly,  I  have 
called  to  mind  my  bodily  infirmities,  now  increased  upon  me  by 
age  and  toil,  by  reason  of  which  I  should  have  both  failed  in 
coming  up  to  your  mark  and  also  sacrificed  my  own  life.  For 
some  years  now  I  have  been  afflicted  with  the  stone,  and  its 
frequent  recurrence  obliges  me  to  observe  great  regularity  in  my 
habits.  I  have  had  some  experience  both  of  the  climate  of 
Holland  and  of  your  particular  diet  and  habits,  and  I  feel  sure 
that,  had  I  returned,  nothing  else  could  have  come  of  it  but 
trouble  to  you  and  death  to  me. 

"  But  it  may  be  that  you  deem  it  a  blessed  thing  to  die  at  a 
good  age  in  the  midst  of  your  brotherhood.  This  is  a  notion 
which  deceives  and  deludes  not  you  alone,  but  almost  everybody. 
We  think  that  Christ  and  religion  consist  in  certain  places,  and 
garments  and  modes  of  life,  and  ceremonial  observances.  It  is 
all  up,  we  think,  with  a  man  who  changes  his  white  habit  for  a 
black  one,  who  substitutes  a  hat  for  a  hood,  and  who  frequently 
changes  his  residence.  I  will  be  bold  to  say  that,  on  the  other 
hand,  great  injury  has  arisen  to  Christian  piety  from  what  we 
call  the  '  religious  orders,'  although  it  may  be  that  they  were 
introduced  with  a  pious  motive.  .  .  .  Pick  out  the  most  lauded 
and  laudable  of  all  of  them,  and  you  may  look  in  vain,  so  far  as 
I  can  see,  for  any  likeness  to  Christ,  unless  it  be  in  cold  and 
Judaical  ceremonies.  It  is  on  account  of  these  that  they  think 
so  much  of  themselves;  it  is  on  account  of  these  that  they  judge 
and  condemn  others.  How  much  more  accordant  to  the  teach- 
ing of  Christ  would  it  be  to  look  upon  all  Christendom  as  one 
home;  as  it  were,  one  monastery;  to  regard  all  men  as  canons 
and  brothers;    to  count  the  sacrament  of  baptism  the  chief 


1 86  The  Oxford  Reformers  [^shI 

religious  vow;  not  to  care  where  you  live^  if  only  you  live  well! ' 
.  .  .  And  now  to  say  a  word  about  my  works.  The  Enchiridion  l] 
fancy  you  have  read.  .  .  .  Thebookof^^agza,  printed  by  Aldus, 
I  don't  know  whether  you  have  seen.  ...  I  have  also  written  a 
book,  De  Rerum  et  Verborum  Copid,  which  I  inscribed  to  my 
friend  Colet.  .  .  .  For  these  two  years  past,  amongst  other  things, 
I  have  been  correcting  the  text  of  the  Letters  of  Jerome.  .  .  ., 
By  the  collation  of  Greek  and  ancient  codices,  I  have  also 
corrected  the  text  of  the  whole  New  Testament,  and  mad^ 
annotations  not  without  theological  value  on  more  than  onej 
thousand  places.  I  have  commenced  Commentaries  on  St 4 
Paul's  Epistles,  which  I  shall  finish  when  the  others  are  pub- 
lished; for  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  work  at  sacred  literature 
to  the  day  of  my  death.  Great  men  say  that  in  these  things  I' 
am  successful  where  others  are  not.  In  your  mode  of  life  I 
should  entirely  fail.  Although  I  have  had  intercourse  with  so 
many  men  of  learning,  both  here  and  in  Italy  and  in  France,  I 
have  never  yet  found  one  who  advised  me  to  betake  myself 
back  again  to  you.  ...  I  beg  that  you  will  not  forget  to  com- 
mend me  in  your  prayers  to  the  keeping  of  Christ.  If  ever  I 
should  come  really  to  know  that  it  would  be  doing  my  duty  to 
Bim  to  return  to  your  brotherhood,  on  that  very  day  I  will  start 
on  the  journey.  Farewell,  my  once  pleasant  companion,  buB 
now  reverend  father.  : 


From  Hammes  Castle,  near  Calais,  July  9,  15 14.' 


This  bold  letter  written,  Erasmus  took  leave  of  his  host,  an( 
hastened  to  repay  by  a  short  embrace  the  kindness  of  anothe: 
friend,  the  Abbot  of  St.  Bertin.  After  a  two  days'  halt  t 
accomplish  this  object,  he  again  mounted  his  horse,  and,  fol 
lowed  by  his  servant  and  baggage,  set  his  face  resolutely  towardi 
Basle :  cheered  in  spirit  by  the  marks  of  friendship  received  durin 
the  past  few  days,  and  anxious  to  reach  his  journey's  end  tha 
he  might  set  about  his  work.  ! 

But  all  haste  is  not  good  speed.    As  he  approached  the  city| 
of  Ghent,  while  he  chanced  to  be  turning  one  way  to  speak  t 
his  servant,  his  horse  took  fright  at  something  lying  on  the  road 
and  turned  round  the  other  way,  severely  straining  thereb 
Erasmus's  back. 

It  was  with  the  greatest  difficulty  and  torture  that  he  reach 
Ghent.  There  he  lay  for  some  days  motionless  on  his  back  at  1 
the  inn,  unable  to  stand  upright,  and  fearing  the  worst.  By^ 
degrees,  however,  he  again  became  able  to  move,  and  to  write' 

I 


I5I4]        Erasmus  on  His  Way  to  Basle         187 

an  amusing  account  of  his  adventure  to  Lord  Mount  joy ;  ^  telling 
him  that  he  had  vowed  to  St.  Paul  that,  if  restored  to  health,  he 
would  complete  the  Commentaries  he  was  writing  on  the  Epistle 
to  the  Romans;  and  adding  that  he  was  already  so  much  better 
that  he  hoped  ere  long  to  proceed  another  stage  to  Antwerp. 
Antwerp  was  accordingly  reached  in  due  course,  and  from 
thence  he  was  able  to  pursue  his  journey. 

At  Louvain  he  prepared  for  publication  a  collection  of  stray 
pieces,  including  amongst  them  the  Institutes  of  a  Christian  Man, 
written  by  Colet  for  his  school  in  English  prose,  and  turned  into 
Latin  verse  by  Erasmus.  In  the  letter  prefixed  to  the  collection  ^ 
he  spoke  of  Colet  as  a  man  than  whom,  in  my  opinion,  the  kingdom 
of  England  has  not  another  more  pious,  or  who  more  truly  knows 
Christ.  Two  editions  of  this  volume  were  published  at  Cologne 
in  the  course  of  a  few  months  by  different  typographers. 

At  Maintz  he  appears  to  have  halted  a  while,  and  he  after- 
wards informed  Colet  that  "  much  was  made  of  him  there." 
That  it  was  so  may  be  readily  conjectured,  for  it  was  at  Maintz 
that  the  Court  of  Inquisition  had  sat  in  the  autumn  of  the  previous 
year,  which,  had  it  not  been  for  the  timely  interference  of  the 
iVrchbishop  of  Maintz,  would  have  condemned  the  aged  Reuchlin 
as  a  heretic.  In  this  city  Erasmus  would  probably  fall  in  with 
many  of  Reuchlin's  friends,  and  as  the  matter  was  now  pending 
the  decision  of  the  authorities  at  Rome,  they  may  well  have  tried 
to  secure  his  influence  with  the  Pope,  to  whom  he  was  personally 
known.  Be  this  as  it  may,  from  the  date  of  his  visit  to  Maintz, 
Erasmus  seems  not  only  never  to  have  lost  an  opportunity 
of  supporting  the  cause  of  Reuchlin  at  Rome  or  elsewhere, 
but  also  to  have  himself  secured  the  friendship  and  regard  of 
Reuchlin's  protector,  the  archbishop. 

Leaving  Maintz,  he  proceeded  to  Strasburg,  where  he  was 
surrounded  and  entertained  by  a  galaxy  of  learned  men.  Another 
stage  brought  him  to  Schelestadt.  The  chief  men  of  this  ancient 
town,  having  heard  of  his  approach,  sent  him  a  present  of  wines, 
requested  his  company  to  dinner  on  the  following  day,  and 
offered  him  the  escort  of  one  of  their  number  for  the  remainder 
of  his  journey.  Erasmus  declined  to  be  further  detained,  but 
gladly  accepted  the  escort  of  John  Sapidus. 

After  having  been  thus  lionised  at  each  stage  of  the  journey, 
and  to  prevent  a  similar  annoyance,  on  his  arrival  at  Basle, 
Erasmus  requested  his  new  companion  to  conceal  his  name, 

^  Partly  written  at  Antwerp,  but  finished  at  Basle,  Aug.  29,  1514. 
*  The  letter  is  dated  "  Lovanii,  a.d.  mdxiiii.  Kal.  Aug." 


1 88  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1514^ 

and  if  possible  to  introduce  him  to  a  few  choice  friends  before  i 
his  arrival  was  known.  Sapidus  complied  with  this  request.] 
He  had  no  difficulty  in  making  his  choice.  I 

Round  the  printing  establishment  of  Froben,  the  printer  had) 
gathered  a  little  group  of  learned  and  devoted  men,  whose  names  j 
had  made  Basle  famous  as  one  of  the  centres  of  revived  learning.] 
There  was  a  university  at  Basle,  but  it  was  not  this  which  had  ■ 
attracted  the  little  knot  of  students  to  the  city.  The  patriarch » 
of  the  group  was  Johann  Amerbach.  He  was  now  an  old  man.| 
More  than  thirty  years  had  passed  since  he  had  first  set  up  hisj 
printing-press  at  Basle,  and  during  these  years  he  had  devoted  j 
his  ample  wealth  and  active  intellect  to  the  reproduction  ini 
type  of  the  works  of  the  early  Church  Fathers.  The  works  of! 
St.  Ambrose  and  St.  Augustine  had  already  issued  from  his: 
press  at  vast  cost  of  labour,  time,  and  wealth.  To  publish  i 
St.  Jerome's  works  before  he  died,  or  at  least  to  see  the  work! 
in  hand,  was  now  the  aged  patriarch's  ambition.  Many  years) 
ago  he  had  imported  Froben,  that  he  might  secure  an  able  sue- ! 
cessor  in  the  printing  department.  His  own  three  sons,  also,t 
he  had  educated  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  so  as  to  qualify! 
them  thoroughly  for  the  work  he  wished  them  to  continue  after  ^ 
he  was  gone.  And  the  three  brothers  Amerbach  did  not  belie! 
their  father's  hopes.  They  had  inherited  a  double  portion  of) 
his  spirit.  Froben,  too,  had  caught  the  old  printer's  mantle,! 
and  worked  like  him,  for  love,  and  not  for  gain.  Others  hadj 
gathered  round  so  bright  a  nucleus.  There  was  Beatus  Rhe-^ 
nanus,  a  young  scholar  of  great  ability  and  wealth,  whose  gentle  i 
loving  nature  endeared  him  to  his  intimate  companions.  He,'i 
too,  had  caught  the  spirit  of  reviving  learning,  and  thought  it  not] 
beneath  his  dignity  to  undertake  the  duties  of  corrector  of  the  j 
press  in  Froben's  printing-office.  Gerard  Lystrius,  a  youth  < 
brought  up  to  the  medical  profession,  with  no  mean  knowledge  j 
both  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  had  also  thrown  in  his  lot  with  them. ' 

Such  was  the  little  circle  of  choice  friends  into  which  Sapidus, ;: 
without  betraying  who  he  was,  introduced  the  stranger  who' 
had  just  arrived  in  Basle,  who,  addressing  himself  at  once  to  J 
Froben,  presented  letters  from  Erasmus,  with  whom  he  saidj 
that  he  was  most  closely  intimate,  and  from  whom  he  had  the  \ 
fullest  commission  to  treat  with  reference  to  the  printing  of  his  \ 
works,  so  that  Froben  might  regard  whatever  arrangement  he  i 
might  make  with  him  as  though  it  had  been  made  with  Erasmus  | 
himself.  Finding  still  that  he  was  undiscovered,  and  wishing  to  i 
slide  easily  from  under  his  incognito,  he  soon  added  drily  that  S 

I 


1 5 14]  Erasmus  at  Basle  189 

Erasmus  and  he  were  "  so  alike  that  to  see  one  was  to  have 
seen  the  other! "  Froben,  then,  to  his  great  amusement,  dis- 
covered who  the  stranger  was.  He  was  received  with  open 
arms.  His  bills  at  the  inn  were  forthwith  paid,  and  himself, 
servant,  horses,  and  baggage  transferred  to  the  home  of  Froben's 
father-in-law,  there  to  enjoy  the  luxuries  of  private  hospitality. 

When  it  was  known  in  the  city  that  Erasmus  had  arrived  he 
was  besieged  by  doctors  and  deans,  rectors  of  the  University, 
poets -laureate,  invitations  to  dine,  and  every  kind  of  attention 
which  the  men  of  Basle  could  give  to  so  illustrious  a  stranger. 

But  Erasmus  had  come  back  to  Basle  not  to  be  lionised,  but  to 
push  on  with  his  work.  He  was  gratified ;  and,  indeed,  he  told 
his  friends,  almost  put  to  the  blush  by  the  honours  with  which  he 
had  been  received;  but,  finding  their  constant  attentions  to 
interfere  greatly  with  his  daily  labours  at  Froben's  office,  he  was 
obliged  to  request  that  he  might  be  left  to  himself. 

At  Froben's  office  he  found  everything  prepared  to  his  hand. 
The  train  was  already  laid  for  the  publication  of  St.  Jerome. 
Beatus  Rhenanus  and  the  three  brothers  Amerbach  were  ready 
to  throw  themselves  heart  and  soul  into  the  work.  The  latter 
undertook  to  share  the  labour  of  collating  and  transcribing 
portions  which  Erasmus  had  not  yet  completed,  and  so  the 
ponderous  craft  got  fairly  under  way.  By  the  end  of  August, 
he  was  thoroughly  immersed  in  types  and  proof-sheets,  and,  to 
use  his  own  expression,  no  less  busy  in  superintending  his  little 
enterprise  than  the  Emperor  in  his  war  with  Venice. 

Thus  he  could  report  well  of  his  journey  and  his  present  home 
to  his  English  friends.  He  felt  that  he  had  done  right  in  coming 
to  Basle,  but,  none  the  less  on  that  account,  that  his  true  home 
was  in  the  hearts  of  these  same  English  friends.  In  his  letters 
to  them  he  expressed  his  longing  to  return.  His  late  ill-fortune 
in  England  he  had  always  set  down  to  the  war,  which  had  turned 
the  thoughts  of  the  nation  and  the  liberality  of  patrons  into  other 
channels,  and  he  hoped  that  now,  perhaps,  the  war  being  over, 
a  better  state  of  things  might  reign  in  England,  and  better 
fortunes  be  in  store  for  the  poor  scholar. 

What  Colet  thought  of  this  and  things  in  general,  how  clouds 

'and  storms  seemed  gathering  round  him,  may  be  learned  from 

his  reply  to  his  friend's  letter,  brief  as  was  his  wont,  but  touch- 

ingly  graphic  in  its  little  details  about  himself  and  his  own  life 

^  during  these  passing  months.     He  was  already  preparing  to 

resign  his  preferments,  and  building  a  house  within  the  secluded 


I  go  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1514] 

precincts  of  the  Charterhouse  at  Sheene  near  Richmond,  wherein, ; 
with  a  few  bosom  friends,  he  hoped  to  spend  the  rest  of  his  days  ^ 
in  peace,  unmolested  by  his  evil  genius,  the  Bishop  of  London.     ' 

> 

Colet  to  Erasmus  ' 

\ 

"  Dearest  Erasmus — I  have  received  your  letter  written  from  ^ 
Basle,  3  Cal.  Sept.  I  am  glad  to  know  where  you  are,  and  in  j 
what  clime  you  are  living.  I  am  glad,  too,  that  you  are  well.j 
See  that  you  perform  the  vow  which  you  say  you  made  to  St.^ 
Paul.  That  so  much  was  made  of  you  at  Maintz,  as  you  tell  me,  \ 
I  can  easily  believe.  I  am  glad  you  intend  to  return  to  us  somej 
day.  But  I  am  not  very  hopeful  about  it.  As  to  any  better* 
f ortune-for  you,  I  don't  know  what  to  say.  I  don't  know,  because  ^ 
those  who  have  the  means  have  not  the  will,  and  those  who  have* 
the  will  have  not  the  means.  All  your  friends  here  are  well.j 
The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  keeps  as  kindly  disposed  as  ever. . 
The  Bishop  of  Lincoln  (Wolsey)  now  reigns  '  Archbishop  of! 
York ! '  The  Bishop  of  London  never  ceases  to  harass  me.  i 
Every  day  I  look  forward  to  my  retirement  and  retreat  with  the^ 
Carthusians.  My  nest  is  nearly  finished.  When  you  come  back! 
to  us,  so  far  as  I  can  conjecture,  you  will  find  me  there,  mortuus] 
mundo.  Take  care  of  your  health,  and  let  me  know  where  you. 
go  to.     Farewell. — From  London,  Oct.  20  (1514)."  ^ 


II.    ERASMUS   RETURNS   TO   ENGLAND — HIS   SATIRE   UPON  \ 

KINGS  (1515)  ) 

Erasmus  had  at  first  intended  to  remain  at  Basle  till  the  Idesi 
of  March  (15 15),  and  then,  in  compHance  with  the  invitation  of^ 
his  Italian  friends,  to  spend  a  few  weeks  in  Italy.  But  afterj 
working  six  or  eight  months  at  Froben's  office  he  was  no  longeri 
inclined  to  carry  out  the  project;  and  so,  a  new  edition  of  theii 
Adagia  being  wellnigh  completed,  and  the  ponderous  folios  ofi 
Jerome  proceeding  to  satisfaction,  under  the  good  auspices  ofi 
the  brothers  Amerbach,  when  spring  came  round  Erasmus  took! 
sudden  flight  from  Basle,  and  turned  up,  not  in  Italy,  but  in 
England.  Safely  arrived  in  London,  he  was  obliged  to  do  his' 
best,  by  the  discreet  use  of  his  pen,  to  excuse  to  his  friends  at! 
Rome  this  slight  upon  their  favours.  | 

He  wrote,  therefore,  elegant  and  flattering  letters  to  the^ 
Cardinal  Grimanus,  the  Cardinal  St.  George,  and  Pope  Le0;j 


I5I5]         Erasmus  Returns  to  England         191 

describing  the  labours  in  which  he  was  engaged,  the  noble 
assistance  which  the  little  fraternity  at  Basle  were  giving,  and 
which  could  not  have  been  got  in  Italy  nor  anywhere  else; 
alluding  in  flattering  terms  to  the  advantages  offered  at  Rome, 
and  the  kindness  he  had  there  received  on  his  former  visit;  but 
describing  in  still  more  glowing  terms  the  love  and  generosity  of 
his  friends  in  England,  and  declaring  "  with  that  frankness  which 
it  becomes  a  German  to  use,"  that  "  England  was  his  adopted 
country,  and  the  chosen  home  of  his  old  age."  He  also  took  the 
opportunity  of  strongly  urging  the  two  cardinals  to  use  their 
utmost  influence  in  aid  of  the  cause  of  Reuchlin.  He  told  them 
how  grieved  he  was,  in  common  with  all  the  learned  men  of 
Germany,  that  these  frivolous  and  vexatious  proceedings  should 
have  been  taken  against  a  man  venerable  both  on  account  of  age 
and  service,  who  ought  now  in  his  declining  years  to  be  peacefully 
wearing  his  well-earned  laurels.  And  lastly,  in  his  letter  to  the 
Pope,  Erasmus  took  occasion  to  express  his  hatred  of  the  wars 
in  which  Europe  had  been  recently  involved,  and  his  thankful- 
ness that  the  efforts  of  his  Holiness  to  bring  about  a  peace  had 
at  last  been  crowned  with  success. 

Peace  had  indeed  been  proclaimed  between  France  and 
England  while  Erasmus  had  been  working  at  Basle,  but  under 
circumstances  not  likely  to  lessen  those  feelings  of  indignation 
with  which  the  three  friends  regarded  the  selfish  and  reckless 
policy  of  European  rulers.  For  peace  had  been  made  with 
France  merely  to  shuffle  the  cards.  Henry's  sister,  the  Princess 
Mary  (whose  marriage  with  Henry's  ally.  Prince  Charles,  ought 
long  ago  to  have  been  solemnised  according  to  contract),  had 
been  married  to  their  common  enemy,  Louis  XII.  of  France, 
with  whom  they  had  just  been  together  at  war.  In  November, 
Henry,  and  his  late  enemy,  Louis,  were  plotting  to  combine 
against  Henry's  late  ally,  King  Ferdinand;  and  England's  blood 
and  treasure,  after  having  been  wasted  in  helping  to  wrest 
Navarre  from  France  for  Ferdinand,  were  now  to  be  wasted 
anew  to  recover  the  same  province  back  to  France  from 
Ferdinand.  On  January  i,  this  unholy  alliance  of  the  two 
courts  was  severed  by  the  death  of  Louis  XII.  The  Princess 
Mary  was  a  widow.  The  young  and  ambitious  Francis  I.  suc- 
ceeded to  the  French  throne,  and  he,  anxious  like  Henry  VIIL 
to  achieve  military  glory,  declared  his  intention,  on  succeeding 
to  the  crown,  that  "  the  monarchy  of  Christendom  should  rest 
I  under  the  banner  of  France  as  it  was  wont  to  do."  Before  the 
end  of  July  he  had  already  started  on  that  Italian  campaign  in 


192  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1515] 

which  he  was  soon  to  defeat  the  Swiss  in  the  great  battle  of  ; 
Marignano — a  battle  at  the  news  of  which  Ferdinand  and  Henry  j 
were  once  more  to  be  made  secret  friends  by  their  common  hatred  \ 
of  so  dangerous  a  rival !  j 

These  international  scandals,  for  such  they  must  be  called,  ] 
wrung  from  Erasmus  other  and  far  more  bitter  censure  than  that  I 
contained  in  his  letter  to  the  Pope.     He  was  laboriously  occupied 
with  great  works  passing  through  the  printing-press  at  Basle,  but ;; 
still  he  stole  the  time  to  give  public  vent  to  his  pent-up  feelings. 
It  little  mattered  that  the  actors  of  these  scandals  were  patrons 
of  his  own — kings  and  ministers  on  whose  aid  he  was  to  some 
extent  dependent,  even  for  the  means  wherewith  to  print  his 
Greek  New  Testament.  His  indignation  burst  forth  in  pamphlets 
printed  in  large  type,  and  bearing  his  name,  or  was  thrust  into 
the  new  edition  of  the  Adagia,  or  bound  up  with  other  new 
editions  which  happened  now  to  be  passing  through  Froben's 
press.    And  be  it  remembered  that  these  works  and  pamphlets 
found  their  way  as  well  into  royal  courts  as  into  the  studies  of 
the  learned. 

What  could  exceed  the  sternness  and  bitterness  of  the  reproof 
contained  in  the  following  passages  ? — 

"  Aristotle  was  wont  to  distinguish  between  a  king  and  a 
tyrant  by  the  most  obvious  marks :  the  tyrant  regarding  only  his 
own  interest;  the  king  the  interests  of  his  people.  But  the  title 
of  '  king,'  which  the  first  and  greatest  Roman  rulers  thought  to 
be  immodest  and  impolitic,  as  likely  to  stir  up  jealousy,  is  not 
enough  for  some,  unless  it  be  gilded  with  the  most  splendid  lies. 
Kings  who  are  scarcely  men  are  called  '  divine ; '  they  are  '  in- 
vincible,' though  they  never  have  left  a  battlefield  without  being 
conquered;  '  serene,'  though  they  have  turned  the  world  upside 
down  in  a  tumult  of  war;  '  illustrious,'  though  they  grovel  in 
profoundest  ignorance  of  everything  noble;  '  Catholic,'  though 
they  follow  anything  rather  than  Christ. 

"  And  these  divine,  illustrious,  triumphant  kings  .  .  .  have  \ 
no. other  desire  than  that  laws,  edicts,  wars,  peaces,  leagues,  ^ 
councils,  judgments,  sacred  or  profane,  should  bring  the  wealth 
of  others  into  their  exchequer — i.e.  they  gather  everything  into 
their  leaking  reservoir,  and,  like  the  eagles,  fatten  their  eaglets 
on  the  flesh  of  innocent  birds. 

"  Let  any  physiognomist  worth  anything  at  all  consider  the 
look  and  the  features  of  an  eagle — those  rapacious  and  wicked  'i 
eyes,  that  threatening  curve  of  the  beak,  those  cruel  jaws,  that   , 
stern  front  .  .  .  will  he  not  recognise  at  once  the  image  of  a 

■  I 


I5I5]  Erasmus'  Satire  on  Kings  193 

king? — a  magnificent  and  majestic  king?  Add  to  this  a  dark 
ill-omened  colour,  an  unpleasing,  dreadful,  appalling  voice,  and 
that  threatening  scream  at  which  every  kind  of  animal  trembles. 
Every  one  will  acknowledge  this  type  who  has  learned  how 
terrible  are  the  threats  of  princes,  even  uttered  in  jest.  ...  At 
this  scream  of  the  eagle  the  people  tremble,  the  senate  yields, 
the  nobility  cringes,  the  judges  concur,  the  divines  are  dumb, 
the  lawyers  assent,  the  laws  and  constitutions  give  way,  neither 
right  nor  religion,  neither  justice  nor  humanity,  avail.  And 
thus  while  there  are  so  many  birds  of  sweet  and  melodious  song, 
the  unpleasant  and  unmusical  scream  of  the  eagle  alone  has  more 
power  than  all  the  rest.  ...  Of  all  birds  the  eagle  alone  has 
seemed  to  wise  men  the  type  of  royalty — not  beautiful,  not 
musical,  not  fit  for  food;  but  carnivorous,  greedy,  hateful  to 
all,  the  curse  of  all,  and,  with  its  great  powers  of  doing  harm, 
surpassing  them  in  its  desire  of  doing  it." 

Again : — 

"  The  office  of  a  prince  is  called  a  '  dominion,'  when  in  truth 
a  prince  has  nothing  else  to  do  but  to  administer  the  affairs  of 
the  commonwealth. 

"  The  intermarriages  between  royal  families,  and  the  new 
leagues  arising  from  them,  are  called  '  the  bonds  of  Christian 
peace,'  though  almost  all  wars  and  all  tumults  of  human  affairs 
seem  to  rise  out  of  them.  When  princes  conspire  together  to 
oppress  and  exhaust  a  commonwealth,  they  call  it  a  '  just  war.' 
When  they  themselves  unite  in  this  object,  they  call  it  peace. 

"  They  call  it  the  extension  of  the  empire  when  this  or  that 
little  town  is  added  to  the  titles  of  the  prince  at  the  cost  of  the 
plunder,  the  blood,  the  widowhood,  the  bereavement  of  so  many 
citizens." 

These  passages  may  serve  to  indicate  what  feelings  were 
stirred  up  in  the  heart  of  Erasmus  by  the  condition  of  inter- 
national affairs,  and  in  what  temper  he  returned  to  England. 
The  works  in  which  they  appeared  he  had  left  under  the  charge 
of  Beatus  Rhenanus,  to  be  printed  at  Basle  in  his  absence.  And 
some  notion  of  the  extent  to  which  whatever  proceeded  from 
the  pen  of  Erasmus  was  now  devoured  by  the  public,  may  be 
gained  from  the  fact  that  Rhenanus,  in  April  of  this  very  year, 
wrote  to  Erasmus,  to  tell  him  that  out  of  an  edition  of  1800 
of  the  Praise  of  Folly  just  printed  by  Froben,  with  notes  by 
Lystrius,  only  sixty  remained  in  hand. 


194  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1515  1 

5 


III.   RETURNS   TO   BASLE    TO    FINISH    HIS  WORK? — FEARS  OF  THE 
ORTHODOX  PARTY  (1515) 

It  will  be  necessary  to  recur  to  the  position  of  international 
affairs  ere  long;  meanwhile,  the  quotations  we  have  given  will 
be  enough  to  show  that,  buried  as  Erasmus  was  in  literary 
labour,  he  was  alive  also  to  what  was  passing  around  him — no 
mere  bookworm,  to  whom  his  books  and  his  learning  were  the 
sole  end  of  life.  As  we  proceed  to  examine  more  closely  the 
object  and  spirit  of  the  works  in  which  he  was  now  engaged,  it 
will  become  more  and  more  evident  that  their  interest  to  him 
was  of  quite  another  kind  to  that  of  the  mere  bookworm. 

Before  the  summer  of  15 15  was  over  he  was  again  on  his  way 
to  Basle,  where  his  editions  of  Jerome  and  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment were  now  really  approaching  completion.  Their  appear- 
ance was  anxiously  expected  by  learned  men  all  over  Europe. 
The  bold  intention  of  Erasmus  to  publish  the  Greek  text  of  the 
New  Testament  with  a  new  Latin  translation  of  his  own,  a  rival 
of  the  sacred  Vulgate,  had  got  wind.  Divines  of  the  traditional 
school  had  already  taken  alarm.  It  was  whispered  about 
amongst  them  that  something  ought  to  be  done.  The  new 
edition  of  the  Praise  of  Folly,  with  notes  by  Lystrius,  had  been 
bought  and  read  v/ith  avidity.  Men  now  shook  their  heads 
who  had  smiled  at  its  first  appearance.  They  discovered 
heresies  in  it  unnoticed  before.  Besides,  the  name  of  Erasmus 
was  now  known  all  over  Europe.  It  mattered  little  what  he 
wrote  a  few  years  ago,  when  he  was  little  known;  but  it 
mattered  much  v/hat  he  might  write  now  that  he  was  a  man 
of  mark. 

While  Erasmus  was  passing  through  Belgium  on  his  way  to 
Balse,  these  whispered  signs  of  discontent  found  public  utter- 
ance in  a  letter  from  Martin  Dorpius,  of  the  Louvain  University, 
addressed  to  Erasmus,  but  printed,  and,  it  would  seem,  in  the 
hands  of  the  public,  before  it  was  forwarded  to  him.  He  met 
with  it  by  accident  at  Antwerp.  It  was  written  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  others.  Men  who  had  not  the  wit  to  make  a  public 
protest  of  this  nature  for  themselves,  had  urged  Martin  Dorpius 
to  employ  his  talents  in  their  cause,  and  to  become  their 
mouthpiece.  \ 

Thus  this  letter  from  Dorpius  was  of  far  more  importance    | 
than  would  at  first  sight  appear.     It  had  a  representative  im-  ,i^ 


ISI5]  The  Letter  from  Dorpius  195 

portance  which  it  did  not  possess  in  itself.  It  was  the  public 
protest  of  a  large  and  powerful  party.  As  such  it  required 
more  than  a  mere  private  reply  from  Erasmus,  and  deserves 
more  than  a  passing  mention  here,  for  it  affords  an  insight  into 
the  plan  and  defences  of  a  theological  citadel,  against  which 
its  defenders  considered  that  Erasmus  was  meditating  a  bold 
attack. 

''  I  hear  "  (wrote  Dorpius,  after  criticising  severely  the  Praise 
oj  Folly) — "  I  hear  that  you  have  been  expurgating  the  epistles 
of  Saint  Jerome  from  the  errors  with  which  they  abound  .  .  . 
and  this  is  a  work  in  all  respects  worthy  of  your  labour,  and  by 
which  you  will  confer  a  great  benefit  on  divines.  .  .  .  But  I 
hear,  also,  that  you  have  been  correcting  the  text  of  the  New- 
Testament,  and  that  '  you  have  made  annotations  not  without 
theological  value  on  more  than  one  thousand  places.'  " 

Here  Dorpius  evidently  quotes  the  words  of  the  letter  of 
Erasmus  to  Servatius,  so  that  he  too  is  silently  behind  the 
scenes,  handing  Erasmus's  letter  about  amongst  his  theological 
friends,  perhaps  himself  inciting  Dorpius  to  write  as  he  does. 

"...  If  I  can  show  you  that  the  Latin  translation  has 
in  it  no  errors  or  mistakes  "  (continued  Dorpius),  "  then  you 
must  confess  that  the  labour  of  those  who  try  to  correct  it  is 
altogether  null  and  void.  ...  I  am  arguing  now  with  respect 
to  the  truthfulness  and  integrity  of  the  translation,  and  I  assert 
this  of  our  Vulgate  version.  For  it  cannot  be  that  the  unani- 
mous universal  Church  now  for  so  many  centuries  has  been 
mistaken,  which  always  has  used,  and  still  both  sanctions  and 
uses,  this  version.  Nor  in  the  same  way  is  it  possible  that  so 
many  holy  fathers,  so  many  men  of  most  consummate  authority, 
could  be  mistaken,  who,  relying  on  the  same  version,  have  de- 
fined the  most  difficult  points  even  in  General  Councils ;  have 
defended  and  elucidated  the  faith,  and  enacted  canons  to  which 
even  kings  have  bowed  their  sceptres.  That  councils  rightly 
convened  never  can  err  in  matters  of  faith  is  generally  admitted 
by  both  divines  and  lawyers.  .  .  .  What  matters  it  whether 
you  beheve  or  not  that  the  Greek  books  are  more  accurate  than 
the  Latin  ones;  whether  or  not  greater  care  was  taken  to  pre- 
serve the  sacred  books  in  all  their  integrity  by  the  Greeks  than 
by  the  Latins; — by  the  Greeks,  forsooth,  amongst  whom  the 
Christian  religion  was  very  often  almost  overthrown,  and  who 
affirmed  that  none  of  the  gospels  were  free  from  errors,  excepting 
the  one  gospel  of  John.  What  matters  all  this  when,  to  say 
nothing  of  anything  else,  amongst  the  Latins  the  Church  has 


196 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [151 5 


continued  throughout  the  inviolate  spouse  of  Christ  ?  .  .  . 
What  if  it  be  contended  that  the  sense^  as  rendered  by  the  Latin 
version,  differs  in  truth  from  the  Greek  text?  Then,  indeed, 
adieu  to  the  Greek.  I  adhere  to  the  Latin  because  I  cannot 
bring  my  mind  to  believe  that  the  Greek  are  more  correct  than 
the  Latin  codices. 

"  But  it  may  be  said,  Augustine  ordered  the  Latin  rivulets 
to  be  supplied  from  the  Greek  fountain-head.  He  did  so;  and 
wisely  in  his  age,  in  which  neither  had  any  one  Latin  version 
been  received  by  the  Church  as  now,  nor  had  the  Greek  fountain- 
head  become  so  corrupt  as  it  now  seems  to  be. 

"  You  may  say  in  reply,  '  I  do  not  want  you  to  change  any- 
thing in  your  codices,  nor  that  you  should  beHeve  that  the  Latin 
version  is  a  false  one.  I  only  point  out  what  discrepancies  I 
discover  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  copies,  and  what  harm 
is  there  in  that?  '  In  very  deed,  my  dear  Erasmus,  there  is 
great  harm  in  it.  Because,  about  this  matter  of  the  integrity 
of  the  Holy  Scriptures  many  will  dispute,  many  will  doubt,  if 
they  learn  that  even  one  jot  or  tittle  in  them  is  false,  .  .  .  and 
then  will  come  to  pass  what  Augustine  described  to  Jerome: 
'  If  any  error  should  be  admitted  to  have  crept  into  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  what  authority  would  be  left  to  them  ?  '  All  these 
considerations,  my  dear  Erasmus,  have  induced  me  to  pray  and 
beseech  you,  by  our  mutual  friendship,  by  your  wonted  courtesy 
and  candour,  either  to  limit  your  corrections  to  those  passages 
only  of  the  New  Testament  in  which  you  are  able,  without 
altering  the  sense,  to  substitute  more  expressive  words;  or  if 
you  should  point  out  that  the  sense  requires  any  alteration  at 
all,  that  you  will  reply  to  the  foregoing  arguments  in  your 
preface." 

Erasmus  replied  to  this  letter  of  Dorpius  with  singular  tact, 
and  reprinted  the  letter  itself  with  his  reply. 

He  acknowledged  the  friendship  of  Dorpius,  and  the  kind  and 
friendly  tone  of  his  letter.  He  received,  he  said,  many  flattering 
letters,  but  he  had  rather  receive  such  a  letter  as  this,  of  honest 
advice  and  criticism,  by  far.  He  was  knocked  up  by  sea-sick- 
ness, wearied  by  long  travel  on  horseback,  busy  unpacking  his 
luggage;  but  still  he  thought  it  was  better,  he  said,  to  send 
some  reply,  rather  than  allow  his  friend  to  remain  under  such 
erroneous  impressions,  whether  the  result  of  his  own  considera- 
tion, or  instilled  into  him  by  others,  who  had  over-persuaded 
him  into  writing  this  letter,  and  thus  made  a  cat's-paw  of  him, 


1515]  Erasmus  to  Dorpius  197 

in  order  to  fight  their  battles  without  exposure  of  their  own 
persons. 

He  told  him  freely  how  and  when  the  Praise  oj  Folly  was 
written^  and  what  were  his  reasons  for  writing  it,  frankly  and 
courteously  replying  to  his  criticisms. 

Pie  described  the  labour  and  difficulty  of  the  correction  of  the 
text  of  St.  Jerome — a  work  of  which  Dorpius  had  expressed  his 
approval.  But  he  said,  with  reference  to  what  Dorpius  had 
written  upon  the  New  Testament,  he  could  not  help  wondering 
what  had  happened  to  him — what  could  have  thrown  all  this 
dust  into  his  eyes ! 

"  You  are  unwilling  that  I  should  alter  anything,  except 
when  the  Greek  text  expresses  the  sense  of  the  Vulgate  more 
clearly,  and  you  deny  that  in  the  Vulgate  edition  there  are  any 
mistakes.  And  you  think  it  wrong  that  what  has  been  approved 
by  the  sanction  of  so  many  ages  and  so  many  synods  should 
be  unsettled  by  any  means.  I  beseech  you  to  consider,  most 
learned  Dorpius,  whether  what  you  have  written  be  true  I  How 
is  it  that  Jerome,  Augustine,  and  Ambrose  all  cite  a  text  which 
differs  from  the  Vulgate?  How  is  it  that  Jerome  finds  fault 
with  and  corrects  many  readings  which  we  find  in  the  Vulgate  ? 
What  can  you  make  of  all  this  concurrent  evidence — when  the 
Greek  versions  differ  from  the  Vulgate,  when  Jerome  cites  the 
text  according  to  the  Greek  versions,  when  the  oldest  Latin 
versions  do  the  same,  when  this  reading  suits  the  sense  much 
better  than  that  of  the  Vulgate — will  you,  treating  all  this  with 
contempt,  follow  a  version  perhaps  corrupted  by  some  copyist? 
...  In  doing  so  you  follow  in  the  steps  of  those  vulgar  divines 
who  are  accustomed  to  attribute  ecclesiastical  authority  to 
whatever  in  any  way  creeps  into  general  use.  ...  I  had  rather 
be  a  common  mechanic  than  the  best  of  their  number." 

With  regard  to  some  other  points,  it  was,  he  said,  more 
prudent  to  be  silent ;  but  he  told  Dorpius  that  he  had  submitted 
the  rough  draft  of  his  Annotations  to  divines  and  bishops  of 
the  greatest  integrity  and  learning,  and  these  had  confessed  that 
they  threw  much  light  on  Scripture  study.  He  concluded  with 
the  expression  of  a  hope  that  even  Dorpius  himself,  although 
now  protesting  against  the  attempt,  would  welcome  the  publica- 
tion of  the  book  when  it  came  into  his  hands. 

This  letter  written  and  despatched  to  the  printer,  Erasmus 
proceeded  with  his  journey.  The  Rhine,  swollen  by  the  rains 
and  the  rapid  melting  of  Alpine  snows,  had  overflowed  its  banks ; 
so  that  the  journey,  always  disagreeable  and  fatiguing,  was  this 


198  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1515 

time  more  than  usually  so.  It  was  more  like  swimming,  Eras- 
mus said,  than  riding.  But  by  the  end  of  August  he  was  again 
hard  at  work  in  Froben's  printing-office  putting  the  finishing 
strokes  to  his  two  great  works.^  By  March  7,  15 16,  he  was 
able  to  announce  that  the  New  Testament  was  out  of  the 
printer's  hands,  and  the  final  colophon  put  to  St.  Jerome. 

It  is  time  therefore  that  we  should  attempt  to  realise  what 
these  two  great  works  were,  and  what  the  peculiar  significance 
of  their  concurrent  publication. 

1  In  a  letter  prefixed  to  the  Erasmi  Epigrammata,  Basle,  151 8,  Froben 
pays  a  just  tribute  to  the  good  hiunour  and  high  courtesy  of  Erasmus  while 
at  work  in  his  printing-office,  interrupted  as  he  often  was,  in  the  midst  of 
his  laborious  duties,  by  frequent  requests  from  all  kinds  of  people  for  an 
epigram  or  a  letter  from  the  great  scholar. — Pp.  275,  276. 


i5i6]       The  "  Novum  Instrumentum  "       199 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE   "  NOVUM   INSTRUMENTUM  "   COMPLETED — WHAT 
IT   REALLY   WAS  (1516) 

The  New  Testament  of  Erasmus  ought  not  to  be  regarded  by 
any  means  as  a  mere  reproduction  of  the  Greek  text^,  or  criticised 
even  chiefly  as  such.  The  labour  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  a 
pioneer  in  such  a  work,  the  multiplied  chances  of  error  in  the 
collation  by  a  single  hand,  and  that  of  a  novice  in  the  art  of 
deciphering  difficult  manuscripts,  the  want  of  experience  on  the 
part  of  the  printers  in  the  use  of  Greek  type,  the  inadequate 
pecuniary  means  at  the  disposal  of  Erasmus,  and  the  haste  with 
which  it  was  prepared,  considering  the  nature  of  the  work — all 
tended  to  make  his  version  of  the  Greek  text  exceedingly  im- 
perfect, viewed  in  the  light  of  modem  criticism.  He  may  even 
have  been  careless,  and  here  and  there  uncandid  and  capricious 
in  his  choice  of  readings, — all  this,  of  which  I  am  incapable  of 
forming  a  conclusive  judgment,  I  am  willing  to  grant  by  the  bye. 
The  merit  of  the  New  Testament  of  Erasmus  does  not  mainly 
rest  upon  the  accuracy  of  his  Greek  text,^  although  this  had  cost 
him  a  great  deal  of  labour,  and  was  a  necessary  part  of  his  plan. 

I  suppose  the  object  of  an  author  may  be  most  fairly  gathered 
from  his  own  express  declarations,  and  that  the  prefaces  of 
Erasmus  to  his  first  edition — the  Novum  Instrumentum,  as  he 
called  it — are  the  best  evidence  that  can  possibly  be  quoted  of 
the  purpose  of  Erasmus  in  its  publication.  To  these,  therefore, 
I  must  beg  the  reader's  attention. 

Now  a  careful  examination  of  these  prefaces  cannot  fail  to 
establish  the  identity  of  the  purpose  of  Erasmus  in  publishing 
the  Novum  Instrumentum  with  that  which  had  induced  Colet, 
nearly  twenty  years  before,  to  commence  his  lectures  at  Oxford. 

During  those  twenty  years  the  divergence  between  the  two 
great  rival  schools  of  thought  had  become  wider  and  wider. 

The  intellectual  tendencies  of  the  philosophic  school  in  Italy 
had  become  more  and  more  decidedly  sceptical.  The  meteor 
lights  of  Savonarola,  Pico,  and  Ficino  had  blazed  across  the  sky 

^  In  one  place  he  even  supplied  a  portion  of  the  Greek  text  which  was 
missing  by  translating  the  Latin  back  into  Greek ! 


200  The  Oxford  Rerormers  [1516 

and  vanished.  The  star  of  semi-pagan  philosophy  was  in  the 
ascendant,  and  shed  its  cold  light  upon  the  intellect  of  Italy. 

Leo  X.  was  indeed  a  great  improvement  upon  Alexander  VI. 
and  Julius  II. — of  this  there  could  be  no  doubt.  Instead  of  the 
gross  sensuality  of  the  former  and  the  warlike  passions  of  the 
latter,  what  Ranke  has  well  designated  a  sort  of  intellectual 
sensualism  now  reigned  in  the  Papal  Court.  Erasmus  had 
indeed  entertained  bright  hopes  of  Leo  X.  He  had  declared 
himself  in  favour  of  a  peaceful  policy;  he  was,  too,  an  enemy 
to  the  blind  bigotry  of  the  Schoolmen.  Nor  does  he  seem  to 
have  been  openly  irreligious.  His  choice  of  Sadolet  as  one  of 
his  secretaries  was  not  like  the  act  of  a  man  who  himself  would 
scoff  at  the  Christian  faith;  though,  on  the  other  hand,  this 
enlightened  Christian  was  unequally  yoked  in  the  office  with 
the  philosophical  and  worldly  Bembo.  Under  former  Popes 
the  fear  of  Erasmus  had  been  "  lest  Rome  should  degenerate  into 
Babylon.^'  He  hoped  now  that,  under  Leo  X.,  "  the  tempest 
of  war  being  hushed,  both  letters  and  religion  might  be  seen 
flourishing  at  Rome." 

At  the  same  time  he  was  not  blind  to  the  sceptical  tendencies 
of  the  Italian  schools.  Thus  whilst  in  a  letter  written  not  long 
after  this  period,  expressing  his  faith  in  the  "  revival  of  letters," 
and  his  belief  that  the  "  authority  of  the  Scriptures  will  not  in  the 
long  run  be  lessened  by  their  being  read  and  understood  correctly 
instead  of  incorrectly  " — whilst  thus,  in  fact,  taking  a  hopeful 
view  of  the  future — we  yet  find  him  confessing  to  a  fear,  "  lest, 
under  the  pretext  of  the  revival  of  ancient  literature,  Paganism 
should  again  endeavour  to  rear  its  head."  The  atmosphere  of 
the  Papal  Court  was  indeed  far  more  semi-pagan  than  Christian. 
With  the  revival  of  classical  literature  it  was  natural  that  there 
should  be  a  revival  of  classical  taste.  And  just  as  the  mediaeval 
church  of  St.  Peter  was  demolished  to  make  room  for  a  classical 
temple,  so  it  was  the  fashion  in  high  society  at  Rome  to  profess 
belief  in  the  philosophy  of  Pliny  and  Aristotle  and  to  scoff  at  the 
Christian  faith. 

The  extent  to  which  anti-Christian  and  sceptical  tendencies 
were  carried  in  the  direction  of  speculative  philosophy  was 
shown  by  the  publication  in  this  very  year,  1516,  by  Pomponatius, 
whom  Ranke  speaks  of  as  "  the  most  distinguished  philosopher 
of  the  day,"  of  a  work  in  which  he  denied  the  immortality  of 
the  soul.  This  philosopher  was,  in  the  words  of  Hallam,  "the 
most  renowned  professor  of  the  school  of  Padua,  which  for  more 
than  a  century  was  the  focus  of  atheism  in  Italy." 


isi6]  Italian  Sceptical  Tendencies  aor 

That  the  same  anti-Christian  and  sceptical  tendencies  were 
equally  prevalent  in  the  sphere  of  practical  morality  and  politics 
as  in  that  of  speculative  philosophy,  was  also  painfully  obvious. 
That  popes  themselves  had  discarded  Christianity  as  the  standard 
of  their  own  morality  both  in  social  and  political  action,  had  for 
generations  been  trumpeted  forth  to  the  world  by  their  own 
sensual  lives,  and  their  faithless  and  immoral  political  conduct. 
When  in  the  Praise  of  Folly  Erasmus  had  satirised  the  policy 
of  popes,  he  had  put  a  sting  to  his  description  of  their  unchristian 
conduct  by  adding  that  they  acted  as  though  Christ  were  dead. 
The  greatest  political  philosopher  of  the  age  had  already  written 
his  great  work  The  Prince,  in  which  he  had  codiiied,  so  to  speak, 
the  maxims  of  the  dominant  anti-Christian  school  of  politics, 
and  framed  a  system  of  political  philosophy  based  upon  keen 
and  godless  self-interest,  and  defying,  if  not  in  terms  denying, 
both  the  obligation  and  policy  of  the  golden  rule — a  system 
which  may  be  best  described,  in  a  word,  by  reference  to  the  name 
of  its  author,  as  Machiavellian} 

On  the  other  hand,  opposed  to  the  new  "  learning,"  and  its 
anti-Christian  tendencies,  was  the  dogmatic  system  of  the  School- 
men, defended  with  blind  bigotry  by  monks  and  divines  of  the 
old  school.  These  had  done  nothing  during  the  past  twenty 
years  to  reconcile  their  system  with  the  intellectual  tendencies 
of  their  age.  They  were  still  straining  every  nerve  to  keep 
Christianity  and  reviving  science  hopelessly  apart.  Their  own 
rigidly  defined  scholastic  creed,  with  all  its  unverified  hypotheses, 
rested  as  securely  as  ever,  in  their  view,  on  the  absolute  inspira- 
tion of  the  Vulgate  version  of  the  Bible;  witness  the  letter  of 
Dorpius.  No  new  light  had  disturbed  the  entire  satisfaction 
with  which  they  regarded  their  system,  or  the  assurance 
with  which  they  denounced  Greek  and  Hebrew  as  "  heretical 
tongues,"  derided  all  attempts  at  free  inquiry,  and  scornfully 
pointed  to  the  sceptical  tendencies  of  the  Italian  school  as  the 
result  to  which  the  **  new  learning  "  must  inevitably  lead. 

And  yet  the  practical  results  of  this  proudly  orthodox  philo- 
sophy were  as  notoriously  anti-Christian,  both  as  regards  social 
and  political  morality,  as  was  the  MachiavelUan  philosophy, 
at  which  these  professed  Christians  pointed  with  the  finger 
of  scorn.  Again  and  again  had  Erasmus  occasion  bitterly 
to  satirise  the  gross  sensuality  in  which  as  a  class  they  grovelled. 
Again  and  again  had  he  to  condemn  their  political  influence,  and 

*  Hallam's  Literature  of  the  Middle  Ages,  ed.  1837,  p.  555  et  seq. 


202  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516 

the  part  they  played  in  prompting  the  warHke  and  treacherous 
poHcy  of  princes  whose  courts  they  infested.^ 

And  passages  have  already  been  quoted  from  the  Praise  of 
FoUy  in  which  Erasmus  pointed  out  how  completely  they  had 
lost  sight  of  the  one  rule  of  Christian  morals — the  golden  rule  of 
Christ — how  they  had  substituted  a  new  notion  of  virtue  for 
the  Christian  one^  and  how  the  very  meaning  of  the  word 
sin  had  undergone  a  corresponding  change  in  their  theological 
vocabulary. 

Such  were  the  two  opposing  parties^  which,  in  this  age  of  intel- 
lectual re-awakening  and  progress,  were  struggling  in  hopeless 
antagonism;  both  of  them  for  the  sake  of  ecclesiastical  emolu- 
ments still  professing  allegiance  to  the  Church,  and  keeping  as 
firm  a  foothold  as  possible  within  her  pale,  but  both  of  them 
practically  betraying  at  the  same  time  their  real  want  of  faith  in 
Christianity  by  tacitly  setting  it  aside  as  a  thing  which  would 
not  work  as  the  rule  of  social  and  political  life. 

Erasmus,  in  writing  the  preface  to  his  Novum  Instrumentum, 
had  his  eye  on  both  these  dominant  parties.  He,  like  Colet, 
believed  both  of  them  to  be  leading  men  astray.  He  beUeved, 
with  Colet,  that  there  was  a  Christianity  which  rested  on  facts 
and  not  upon  speculation,  and  which  therefore  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  dogmatic  theology  of  the  Schoolmen  on  the  one 
hand,  and  nothing  to  fear  from  free  inquiry  on  the  other.  To 
"  call,  men  as  with  the  sound  of  a  trumpet"  to  this,  was  the 
object  of  the  earnest  "Paraclesis"  which  he  prefixed  to  his 
Testament. 

He  first  appealed  to  the  free  -  thinking  philosophic 
school : — 

"  In  times  like  these,  when  men  are  pursuing  with  such  zest 
all  branches  of  knowledge,  how  is  it  that  the  philosophy  of 
Christ  should  alone  be  derided  by  some,  neglected  by  many, 
treated  by  the  few  who  do  devote  themselves  to  it  with  coldness, 
not  to  say  insincerity  ?  Whilst  in  all  other  branches  of  learning 
the  human  mind  is  straining  its  genius  to  master  all  subtleties, 
and  toiling  to  overcome  all  difficulties,  why  is  it  that  this  one 
philosophy  alone  is  not  pursued  with  equal  earnestness,  at  least 
by  those  who  profess  to  be  Christians?  Platonists,  Pytha- 
goreans, and  the  disciples  of  all  other  philosophers,  are  well 

^  Compare  the  satire  on  Monks  in  Scarabeus,  and  the  colloquy  called 
Charon,  with  the  passage  in  which  Erasmus  alludes  to  the  continental  wars 
of  Henry  VIII. 


I5I6]        The  "  Novum  Instrumentum  "       203 

instructed  and  ready  to  fight  for  their  sect.  Why  do  not  Chris- 
tians with  yet  more  abundant  zeal  espouse  the  cause  of  their 
Master  and  Prince?  Shall  Christ  be  put  in  comparison  with 
Zeno  and  Aristotle  —  his  doctrines  with  their  insignificant 
precepts?  Whatever  other  philosophers  may  have  been,  he 
alone  is  a  teacher  from  heaven;  he  alone  was  able  to  teach 
certain  and  eternal  wisdom;  he  alone  taught  things  pertaining 
to  our  salvation,  because  he  alone  is  its  author;  he  alone  abso- 
lutely practised  what  he  preached,  and  is  able  to  make  good 
what  he  promised.  .  .  .  The  philosophy  of  Christ,  moreover, 
is  to  be  learned  from  its  few  books  with  far  less  labour  than  the 
Aristotelian  philosophy  is  to  be  extracted  from  its  multitude  of 
ponderous  and  conflicting  commentaries.  Nor  is  anxious  pre- 
paratory learning  needful  to  the  Christian.  Its  viaticum  is 
simple,  and  at  hand  to  all.  Only  bring  a  pious  and  open  heart, 
imbued  above  all  things  with  a  pure  and  simple  faith.  Only 
be  teachable,  and  you  have  already  made  much  way  in  this 
philosophy.  It  supplies  a  spirit  for  a  teacher,  imparted  to  none 
more  readily  than  to  the  simple-minded.  "  Other  philosophies, 
by  the  very  difficulty  of  their  precepts,  are  removed  out  of  the 
range  of  most  minds.  No  age,  no  sex,  no  condition  of  life  is 
excluded  from  this.  The  sun  itself  is  not  more  common  and 
open  to  all  than  the  teaching  of  Christ.  For  I  utterly  dissent 
from  those  who  are  unwilling  that  the  sacred  Scriptures  should 
be  read  by  the  unlearned  translated  into  their  vulgar  tongue, 
as  though  Christ  had  taught  such  subtleties  that  they  can  scarcely 
be  understood  even  by  a  few  theologians,  or  as  though  the  strength 
of  the  Christian  religion  consisted  in  men's  ignorance  of  it.  The 
mysteries  of  kings  it  may  be  safer  to  conceal,  but  Christ  wished 
his  mysteries  to  be  published  as  openly  as  possible.  I  wish  that 
even  the  weakest  woman  should  read  the  Gospel — should  read 
the  epistles  of  Paul.  And  I  wish  these  were  translated  into  all 
languagey^o  that  they  might  be  read  and  understood,  not  only 
by  Scotland  Irishmen,  but  also  by  Turks  and  Saracens.  To 
make  them  understood  is  surely  the  first  step.  It  may  be  that 
they  might  be  ridiculed  by  many,  but  some  would  take  them 
to  heart.  I  long  that  the  husbandman  should  sing  portions  of 
them  to  himself  as  he  follows  the  plough,  that  the  weaver 
should  hum  them  to  the  tune  of  his  shuttle,  that  the 
traveller  should  beguile  with  their  stories  the  tedium  of  his 

journey."     — f, r.  -^     • '   t^A .tUji, \%"^. 

Then   turning   more   directly   to   the  Schoolmen,  Erasmus 
continued : — 


204  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516 

Why  is  a  greater  portion  of  our  lives  given  to  the  study  of  the 
Schoolmen  than  of  the  Gospels?  The  rules  of  St.  Francis  and 
St.  Benedict  may  be  considered  sacred  by  their  respective  fol- 
lowers; but  just  as  St.  Paul  wrote  that  the  law  of  Moses  was  not 
glorious  in  comparison  with  the  glory  of  the  Gospel,  so  Erasmus 
said  he  wished  that  these  might  not  be  considered  as  sacred  in 
comparison  with  the  Gospels  and  letters  of  the  Apostles.  What 
are  Albertus,  Alexander,  Thomas,  ^Egidius,  Ricardus,  Occam, 
in  comparison  with  Christ,  of  whom  it  was  said  by  the  Father 
in  heaven,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son  "  ?  (Oh,  how  sure  and,  as 
they  say,  "  irrefragable  "  his  authority!)  What,  in  comparison 
with  Peter,  who  received  the  command  to  feed  the  sheep;  or 
Paul,  in  whom,  as  a  chosen  vessel,  Christ  seemed  to  be  reborn ; 
or  John,  who  wrote  in  his  epistles  what  he  learned  as  he  leaned 
on  his  bosom?  "  If  the  footprints  of  Christ  be  anywhere  shown 
to  us,  we  kneel  down  and  adore.  Why  do  we  not  rather  vene- 
rate the  living  and  breathing  picture  of  Him  in  these  books? 
If  the  vesture  of  Christ  be  exhibited,  where  will  we  not  go  to 
kiss  it?  Yet  were  his  whole  wardrobe  exhibited  nothing  could 
represent  Christ  more  vividly  and  truly  than  these  evangelical 
writings.  Statues  of  wood  and  stone  we  decorate  with  gold  and 
gems  for  the  love  of  Christ.  They  only  profess  to  give  us  the 
form  of  his  body;  these  books  present  us  with  a  living  image 
of  his  most  holy  mind.^  Were  we  to  have  seen  Him  with  our 
own  eyes,  we  should  not  have  had  so  intimate  a  knowledge  as 
they  give  of  Christ,  speaking,  healing,  dying,  rising  again,  as  it 
were,  in  our  own  actual  presence." 

Such  was  the  earnest "  Paraclesis  "  ^  with  which  Erasmus  intro- 
duced his  Greek  and  Latin  version  of  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament. 

To  this  he  added  a  few  pages  to  explain  what  he  con- 
sidered the  right  "  method  "  to  be  adopted  by  the  Scripture 
student.^ 

First,  as  to  the  spirit  in  which  he  should  work : — 

"  Let  him  approach  the  New  Testament,  not  with  an  unholy 
curiosity,  but  with  reverence  ;  bearing  in  mind  that  his  first  and 
only  aim  and  object  should  be  that  he  may  catch  and  be  changed 
into  the  spirit  of  what  he  there  learns.  It  is  the  food  of  the  soul; 
and  to  be  of  use,  must  not  rest  only  in  the  memory  or  lodge  in 

^  Compare  the  similar  views  expressed  in  the  Enchiridion  (Canon  V.) 
fifteen  years  before. 

*  Both  the  above  passages  are  slightly  abridged  in  the  translation. 
» The  quotations  in  this  case  also  are  abridged. 


i5i6]       The  "  Novum  Instrumentum  "        205 

the  stomach,  but  must  permeate  the  very  depths  of  the  heart 
and  mind." 

Tiien,  as  to  what  special  acquirements  are  most  useful  in  the 
prosecution  of  these  studies : — 

"  1  fair  knowledge  of  the  three  languages,  Latin,  Greek,  and 
Hebrew,  of  course,  are  the  first  things.  Nor  let  the  student  turn 
away  in  despair  at  the  difficulty  of  this.  If  you  have  a  teacher 
and  the  will  to  learn,  these  three  languages  can  be  learned  almost 
with  less  labour  than  every  day  is  spent  over  the  miserable 
babble  of  one  mongrel  language  under  ignorant  teachers.  It 
would  be  well,  too,  were  the  student  tolerably  versed  in  other 
branches  of  learning — dialectics,  rhetoric,  arithmetic,  music, 
astrology,  and  especially  in  knowledge  of  the  natural  objects — 
animals,  trees,  precious  stones — of  the  countries  mentioned  in 
the  Scriptures;  for  if  we  are  familiar  with  the  country,  we  can 
in  thought  follow  the  history  and  picture  it  to  our  minds,  so  that 
we  seem  not  only  to  read  it,  but  to  see  it;  and  if  we  do  this,  we 
shall  not  easily  forget  it.  Besides,  if  we  know  from  study  of 
history  not  only  the  position  of  those  nations  to  whom  these 
things "  happened,  or  to  whom  the  Apostles  wrote,  but  also 
their  origin,  manners,  institutions,  religion,  and  character,  it  is 
wonderful  how  much  light  and,  if  I  may  so  speak,  life  is  thrown 
into  the  reading  of  what  before  seemed  dry  and  lifeless.  Other 
branches  of  learning — classical,  rhetorical,  or  philosophical — 
may  all  be  turned  to  account;  and  especially  should  the  student 
learn  to  quote  Scripture,  not  second-hand,  but  from  the  fountain- 
head,  and  take  care  not  to  distort  its  meaning  as  some  do,  inter- 
preting the  '  Church  '  as  the  clergy,  the  laity  as  the  *  world,'  and 
the  like.  To  get  at  the  real  meaning,  it  is  not  enough  to  take 
four  or  five  isolated  words;  you  must  look  where  they  came 
from,  what  was  said,  by  whom  it  was  said,  to  whom  it  was  said, 
at  what  time,  on  what  occasion,  in  what  words,  what  preceded, 
what  followed.  And  if  you  refer  to  commentaries,  choose  out  the 
best,  such  as  Origen  (who  is  far  above  all  others),  Basil,  etc., 
Jerome,  Ambrose,  etc.;  and  even  these  read  with  discrimination 
and  judgment,  for  they  were  men  ignorant  of  some  things,  and 
mistaken  in  others. 

"  As  to  the  Schoolmen,  I  had  rather  be  a  pious  divine 
with  Jerome  than  invincible  with  Scotus.  Was  ever  a  heretic 
converted  by  their  subtleties?  Let  those  who  like  follow  the 
disputations  of  the  schools;  but  let  him  who  desires  to  be  in- 
structed rather  in  piety  than  in  the  art  of  disputation,  first  and 
above  all  apply  himself  to  the  fountain-head — to  those  writings 


2o6  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516 

which  flowed  immediately  from  the  fountain-head.  The  divine 
is  '  invincible  '  enough  who  never  yields  to  vice  or  gives  way  to 
evil  passions^,  even  though  he  may  be  beaten  in  argument.  That 
doctor  is  abundantly  '  great '  who  purely  preaches  Christ." 

I  have  quoted  these  passages  very  much  at  length,  that  there 
may  be  no  doubt  whatever  how  fully  Erasmus  had  in  these 
prefaces  adopted  and  made  himself  the  spokesm.an  of  Colet's 
views.  An  examination  of  the  Novum  Insirumentum  itself, 
and  of  the  "  Annotations  "  which  formed  the  second  part  of  the 
volume,  reveals  an  equally  close  resemblance  between  the  critical 
method  of  exposition  used  by  Colet  and  that  here  adopted  by 
Erasmus.  There  was  the  same  rejection  of  the  theory  of  verbal 
inspiration  which  was  noticed  in  Colet  as  the  result  of  an  honest 
attempt  to  look  at  the  facts  of  the  case  exactly  as  they  were, 
instead  of  attempting  to  explain  them  away  by  reference  to 
preconceived  theories. 

Thus  the  discrepancy  between  St.  Stephen's  speech  and  the 
narrative  in  Genesis,  with  regard  to  a  portion  of  the  history  of 
the  Patriarch  Abraham,  was  freely  pointed  out,  without  any 
attempt  at  reconcilement.  St.  Jerome's  suggestion  was  quoted 
that  Mark,  in  the  second  chapter  of  his  Gospel,  had,  by  a  lapse 
of  memory,  written  "  Abiathar  "  in  mistake  for  "  Ahimelech," 
and  that  Matthew,  in  the  twenty-seventh  chapter,  instead  of 
quoting  from  Jeremiah,  as  stated  in  the  text,  was  really  quoting 
from  the  Prophet  Zachariah. 

The  fact  that  in  a  great  number  of  cases  the  quotations  from 
the  Old  Testament  are  by  no  means  exact,  either  as  compared 
v/ith  the  Hebrew  or  Septuagint  text,  was  freely  alluded  to,  and 
the  suggestion  as  freely  thrown  out  that  the  Apostles  habitually 
quoted  from  memory,  without  giving  the  exact  words  of  the 
original. 

All  these  were  little  indications  that  Erasmus  had  closely 
followed  in  the  steps  of  Colet  in  rejecting  the  theory  of  the 
verbal  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures;  and  they  bear  abundant 
evidence  to  prove  that  he  did  so,  as  Colet  had  done,  not  because 
he  wished  to  undermine  men's  reverence  for  the  Bible,  but  that 
they  might  learn  to  love  and  to  value  its  pages  infinitely  more 
than  they  had  done  before — not  because  he  wished  to  explain 
away  its  facts,  but  that  men  might  discover  how  truly  real  and 
actual  and  heart-stirring  were  its  histories — not  to  undermine 
the  authority  of  its  moral  teaching,  but  to  add  just  so  much  to 
it  as  the  authority  of  the  Apostle  who  had  written,  or  of  the 
Saviour  who  had  spoken,  its  Divine  truths,  exceeds  the  authority 


1516]       The  "  Novum  Instrumentum  "        207 

of  tie  Fathers  who  had  established  the  canon,  or  of  the  School- 
men who  had  buried  the  Bible  altogether  under  the  rubbish  of 
the  tiousand  and  one  propositions  which  they  professed  to  have 
extracted  from  it. 

Let  it  never  be  forgotten  that  the  Church  party  which  had 
stakei  their  faith  upon  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the  Bible  was 
the  Clurch  party  who  had  succeeded  in  putting  it  into  the  back- 
ground. They  were  the  party  whom  Tyndale  accused  of "  know- 
ing no  more  Scripture  than  they  found  in  their  Duns."  They 
were  the  party  who  throughout  the  sixteenth  century  resisted 
every  attempt  to  give  the  Bible  to  the  people  and  to  make  it  the 
people's  book.  And  they  were  perfectly  logical  in  doing  so. 
Their  whole  system  was  based  upon  the  absolute  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  even  to  a  great  extent  of  the  Vulgate 
version  If  the  Vulgate  version  was  not  verbally  inspired,  it 
was  imoossible  to  apply  to  it  the  theory  of  "  manifold  senses." 
And  if  i  text  could  not  be  interpreted  according  to  that  theor}^, 
if  it  could  not  properly  be  strained  into  meanings  which  it  was 
never  intended  by  the  writer  to  convey,  the  scholastic  theology 
became  a  castle  of  cards.  Its  defenders  adopted,  and  in  perfect 
good  faith  applied  to  the  Vulgate,  the  words  quoted  from 
Augustine:  "  If  any  error  should  be  admitted  to  have  crept  into 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  what  authority  would  be  left  to  them?  " 
If  Colet  and  Erasmus  should  undermine  men's  faith  in  the 
absolute  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  it  would  result,  in  their 
view,  as  a  logical  necessity,  in  the  destruction  of  the  Christian 
religion.  For  the  Christian  religion,  in  their  view,  consisted  in 
blind  devotion  to  the  Church,  and  in  gulping  whole  the  dog- 
matic creed  which  had  been  settled  by  her  "  invincible  "  and 
''  irrefragable  "  doctors. 

But  this  was  not  the  faith  of  Colet  and  Erasmus.  With  them 
the  Christian  religion  consisted  not  in  gulping  a  creed  upon  any 
authority  whatever,  but  in  loving  and  loyal  devotion  to  the 
person  of  Christ.  They  sought  in  the  books  which  they  found 
bound  up  into  a  Bible  not  so  much  an  infallible  standard  of 
doctrinal  truth  as  an  authentic  record  of  Ms  life  and  teaching. 
Where  should  they  go  for  a  knowledge  of  Christ,  if  not  to  the 
writings  of  those  who  were  nearest  in  their  relations  to  Him? 
They  valued  these  writings  because  they  sought  and  found  in 
them  a  "living  and  breathing  picture  of  Him;  "  because 
"  nothing  could  represent  Christ  more  vividly  and  truly  "  than 
they  did;  because  "  they  present  a  living  image  of  his  mos.t  holy 
mind,"  so  that  "  even  had  we  seen  Him  with  our  own  eyes  we 


2o8  The  Oxford  Rerormers  [1516 

should  not  have  had  so  intimate  a  knowledge  as  they  gi^e  of 
Christ  speaking,  healing,  dying,  rising  again  as  it  were  ir  our 
own  actual  presence."  It  was  because  these  books  brought  :hem, 
as  it  were,  so  close  to  Christ  and  the  facts  of  his  actual  life,  that 
they  wished  to  get  as  close  to  them  as  they  could  do.  They 
would  not  be  content  with  knowing  something  of  them  second- 
hand from  the  best  Church  authorities.  The  best  of  the  Fathers 
were  "  men  ignorant  of  some  things,  and  mistaken  in  others." 
They  would  go  to  the  books  themselves,  and  read  them  in  their 
original  languages,  and,  if  possible,  in  the  earliest  copies,  so  that 
no  mistakes  of  copyists  or  blunders  of  translators  might  blind 
their  eyes  to  the  facts  as  they  were.  They  would  study  the  geo- 
graphy and  the  natural  history  of  Palestine  that  they  might  the 
more  correctly  and  vividly  realise  in  their  mind's  eye  the  events 
as  they  happened.  And  they  would  do  all  this,  not  that  they 
might  make  themselves  "  irrefragable  "  doctors  —  rirals  of 
Scotus  and  Aquinas — but  that  they  might  catch  the  Spirit  of 
Him  whom  they  were  striving  to  know  for  themselves,  and  that 
they  might  place  the  same  knowledge  within  reach  of  all— Turks 
and  Saracens,  learned  and  unlearned,  rich  and  poor — by  the 
translation  of  these  books  into  the  vulgar  tongue  of  each. 

The  Novum  Instrumentum  of  Erasmus  was  at  once  the 
result  and  the  embodiment  of  these  views. 

Hence  it  is  easy  to  see  the  significance  of  the  concurrent 
publication  of  the  works  of  St.  Jerome.  St.  Jerome  belonged 
to  that  school  of  theology  and  criticism  which  now,  after  the 
lapse  of  a  thousand  years,  Colet  and  Erasmus  were  reviving  in 
Western  Europe.  St.  Jerome  was  the  father  who  in  his  day 
strove  to  give  to  the  people  the  Bible  in  their  vulgar  tongue.  St. 
Jerome  was  the  father  against  whom  St.  Augustine  so  earnestly 
strove  to  vindicate  the  verbal  inspiration  of  the  Bible.  It  was 
the  words  of  St.  Augustine  used  against  St.  Jerome  that,  now 
after  the  lapse  of  ten  centuries,  Martin  Dorpius  had  quoted 
against  Erasmus.  We  have  seen  in  an  earlier  chapter  how  Colet 
clung  to  St.  Jerome's  opinion,  against  that  of  nearly  all  other 
authorities,  in  the  discussion  which  led  to  his  first  avowal  to 
Erasmus  of  his  views  on  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures .  Finally, 
the  Annotations  to  the  Novum  Instrumentum  teem  with  citations 
from  St.  Jerome. 

The  concurrent  pubHcation  of  the  works  of  this  father  was 
therefore  a  practical  vindication  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum 
from  the  charge  of  presumption  and  novelty.  It  proved  that 
Colet  and  Erasmus  were  teaching  no  new  doctrines — that  their 


I5I6]       The  "  Novum  Instrumentum  "        209 

work  was  correctly  defined  by  Colet  himself  to  be  "  to  restore 
that  old  and  true  theology  which  had  been  so  long  obscured  by 
the  subtleties  of  the  Schoolmen." 

Under  this  patristic  shield,  dedicated  by  permission  to  Pope 
Leo,  and  its  copyright  secured  for  four  years  by  the  decree  of  the 
Emperor  Maximilian,  the  Novum  Instrumentum  went  forth  into 
the  world. 


21  o  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1515 


CHAPTER  XII 

I.   MORE   IMMERSED   IN   PUBLIC  BUSINESS  (1515) 

While  the  work  of  Erasmus  had  for  some  years  past  lain  chiefly 
in  the  direction  of  laborious  literary  study,  it  had  been  far  other- 
wise with  More.  His  lines  had  fallen  among  the  busy  scenes  and 
cares  of  practical  life.  His  capacity  for  public  business,  and  the 
diligence  and  impartiality  with  which  he  had  now  for  some  years 
discharged  his  judicial  duties  as  under-sheriff,  had  given  him  a 
position  of  great  popularity  and  influence  in  the  city.  He  had 
been  appointed  by  the  Parliament  of  15 15  a  Commissioner  of 
Sewers — a  recognition  at  least  of  his  practical  ability.  In  his 
private  practice  at  the  Bar  he  had  risen  to  such  eminence  that 
Roper  tells  us  "  there  was  at  that  time  in  none  of  the  prince's 
courts  of  the  laws  of  this  realm  any  matter  of  importance  in 
controversy  wherein  he  was  not  with  the  one  party  of  counsel." 
Roper  further  reports  that  "  by  his  office  and  his  learning  (as  I 
have  heard  him  say)  he  gained  without  grief  not  so  little  as  £400 
by  the  year  "  (equal  to  £4000  a  year  in  present  money).  He  had 
in  the  meantime  married  a  second  wife,  Alice  Middleton,  and 
taken  her  daughter  also  into  his  household ;  and  thus  tried,  for 
the  sake  of  his  little  orphans,  to  roll  away  the  cloud  of  domestic 
sorrow  from  his  home. 

Becoming  himself  more  and  more  of  a  public  man,  he  had 
anxiously  watched  the  course  of  political  events. 

The  long  continuance  of  war  is  almost  sure  to  bring  up  to  the 
surface  social  evils  which  in  happier  times  smoulder  on  un- 
observed. It  was  especially  so  with  these  wars  of  Henry  VIII. 
Each  successive  Parliament,  called  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 
the  King  with  the  necessary  ways  and  means,  found  itself  obliged 
reluctantly  to  deal  with  domestic  questions  of  increasing  diffi- 
culty. In  previous  years  it  had  been  easy  for  the  flattering 
courtiers  of  a  popular  king,  by  talking  of  victories,  to  charm  the 
ear  of  the  Commons  so  wisely  that  subsidies  and  poll-taxes  had 
been  voted  without  much,  if  any,  opposition.  But  the  parlia- 
ment which  had  met  in  February  1515  had  no  victories  to  talk 
about.  Whether  right  or  wrong  in  regarding  "  the  realm  of 
France  his  very  true  patrimony  and  inheritance,"  Henry  VIII. 


I5I5]  The  Condition  of  England  21  i 

had  not  yet  been  able  "  to  reduce  the  same  to  his  obedience." 
Meanwhile  the  long  continuance  of  war  expenditure  had  drained 
the  national  exchequer.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  under  Wolsey's 
able  management  the  expenditure  had  already  been  cut  down 
to  an  enormous  extent,  but  during  the  three  years  of  active  war- 
fare— 15 12,  1513?  and  1 5 14 — the  revenues  of  more  than  twelve 
ordinary  years  ^  had  been  spent,  the  immense  hoards  of  wealth 
inherited  by  the  young  king  from  Henry  VII.  had  been  squandered 
away,  and  even  the  genius  of  Wolsey  was  unable  to  devise  means 
to  collect  the  taxes  which  former  Parliaments  had  already  voted. 
The  temper  of  the  Commons  was  in  the  meantime  beginning  to 
change.  They  now,  in  1515,  for  the  first  time  entered  their  com- 
plaint upon  the  rolls  of  Parliament,  that  whereas  the  King's  noble 
progenitors  had  maintained  their  estate  and  the  defences  of  the 
realm  out  of  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  kingdom,  he  now,  by 
reason  of  the  improvident  grants  made  by  him  since  he  came  to 
the  throne,  had  not  sufficient  revenues  left  to  meet  his  increasing 
expenses.  The  result  was  that  all  unusual  grants  of  annuities, 
etc.,  were  declared  to  be  void.  The  Commons  then  proceeded 
to  deal  with  the  large  deficiency  which  previous  subsidies  had 
done  little  to  remove.  Of  the  £160,000  granted  by  the  previous 
Parliament  only  £50,000  had  been  gathered,  and  all  they  now 
attempted  to  achieve  was  the  collection,  under  new  arrangements, 
of  the  remaining  £110,000. 

It  was  evident  that  the  temper  of  the  people  would  not  bear 
further  trial;  and  no  wonder,  for  the  tax  which  in  the  previous 
year  had  raised  a  total  of  £50,000  was  practically  an  income-tax 
of  sixpence  in  the  pound,  descending  even  to  the  wages  of  the  farm- 
labourer.  In  the  coming  year  this  income-tax  of  sixpence  was 
to  be  twice  repeated  simply  to  recover  arrears  of  taxation.  What 
should  we  think  of  a  government  which  should  propose  to  exact 
from  the  day  labourer,  by  direct  taxation,  a  tax  equal  to  between 
two  and  three  weeks'  wages ! 

The  selfishness  of  Tudor  legislation — or,  perhaps  it  might  be 
more  just  to  say  of  Wolsey^ s  legislation,  for  he  was  the  presiding 
spirit  of  this  Parliament — was  shown  no  less  clearly  in  its  manner 
of  dealing  with  the  social  evils  which  came  under  its  notice. 

Thus  the  Act  of  Apparel,  with  its  pains  and  penalties,  was 


1512 
1513 
1514 


£286,269 
699,714 
155,757 


1515 
1516 

1517 


£1,141,740 
See  Brewer,  ii.  preface,  cxciv. 


£74,007 

130,779 

78,887 

;C283,673 


212  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1515  ' 

obviously  more  likely  to  give  a  handle  to  unscrupulous  ministers   ; 
to  be  used  for  purposes  of  revenue  than  to  curb  those  tastes  for 
grandeur  in  attire  which  nothing  was  so  likely  to  foster  as  the 
example  of  Wolsey  himself.^  j 

Thus,  too,  not  content  with  carrying  their  income-tax  down   j 
to  the  earnings  of  the  peasant,  this  and  the  previous  Parliament   ' 
attempted  to  interfere  with  the  wages  of  the  labouring  classes   | 
solely  for  the  benefit  of  employers  of  labour.     The  simple  fact  I 
was  that  the  drain  upon  the  labour  market  to  keep  the  army   \ 
supplied   with   soldiers  had  caused  a  temporary  scarcity  of  ] 
labour  and  a  natural  rise  in  wages.     Complaints  were  made,  ; 
according  to  the  chronicles,  that  "labourers  would  in  nowise  ■■ 
work  by  the  day,  but  all  by  task,  and  in  great,"  and  that  there-  y\ 
fore,  "  especially  in  harvest  time,  the  husbandmen  [i.e.  the  i 
farmers  and  landowners]  could  scarce  get  workmen  to  help  in  }; 
their  harvest."     The  agricultural  interest  was  strongly  repre- 
sented in  the  House  of  Commons — the  labourers  not  at  all.     So, 
human  nature  being  the  same  then  as  now,  the  last  Parliament 
had  attempted  virtually  to  re-enact  the  old  statutes  of  labourers, 
as  against  the  labourers,  whilst  repealing  all  the  clauses  which 
might  possibly  prove  inconvenient  to  employers.    This  Parlia- 
ment of  15 15  completed  the  work;   re-enacted  a  rigid  scale  of 
wages,  and  imposed  pains  and  penalties  upon  "  artificers  who 
should  leave  their  work  except  for  the  King's  service."     Here 
again  was  oppression  of  the  poor  to  spare  the  pockets  of  the  rich. 

Again,  the  scarcity  of  labour  made  itself  felt  in  the  increased 
propensity  of  landowners  to  throw  arable  land  into  pasture, 
involving  the  sudden  and  cruel  ejection  of  thousands  of  the 
peasantry,  and  the  enactment  of  statutory  provisions  to  check 
this  tendency  was  not  to  be  wondered  at;  but  the  rumour  that 
many  by  compounding  secretly  with  the  Cardinal  were  able  to 
exempt  themselves  from  the  penalties  of  inconvenient  statutes 
leads  one  to  suspect  that  Wolsey  thought  more  of  the  wants 
of  the  exchequer  than  of  the  hardship  and  misery  of  ejected 
peasants. 

It  was  natural  that  the  result  of  wholesale  ejections,  and 
the  return  of  deserting  or  disbanded  soldiers  (often  utterly 
demoralised),  should  still  show  itself  in  the  appalHng  increase  of 
crime.  Perhaps  it  was  equally  natural  that  legislators  who  held 
the  comforts  and  lives  of  the  labouring  poor  so  cheap  should 

^  6  Henry  VIII.  c.  i.  The  draft  of  this  Act  in  the  final  forna.  in  which 
it  was  adopted  when  Parliament  met  again  in  the  autumn,  is  in  Wolsey's 
handwriting. — Brewer. 


I5I5]  More's  First  Embassy  213 

think  that  they  had  provided  at  once  a  proper  and  efficient 
remed}^  when,  by  abolishing  benefit  of  clergy  in  the  case  of  felons 
and  murderers,  and  by  abridging  the  privilege  of  sanctuary,  they 
had  multiplied  to  a  terrible  extent  the  number  of  executions. 

If  the  labouring  classes  were  thus  harshly  dealt  with,  so  also 
the  mercantile  classes  did  not  find  their  interests  very  carefully 
guarded. 

The  breach  of  faith  with  Prince  Charles  in  the  matter  of  the 
marriage  of  the  Princess  Mary  had  caused  a  quarrel  between 
England  and  the  Netherlands,  and  this  Parliament  of  15 15  had 
followed  it  up  by  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  Norfolk  wool  to 
Holland  and  Zealand,  thus  virtually  interrupting  commercial 
intercourse  with  the  Hanse  Towns  of  Belgium  at  a  time  when 
Bruges  was  the  great  mart  of  the  world. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  London  merchants  expressed  a  very 
natural  anxiety  that  the  commercial  intercourse  between  two 
countries  so  essential  to  each  other  should  be  speedily  resumed. 
They  saw  clearly  that  whatever  military  advantage  might  be 
gained  by  the  attempt  to  injure  the  subjects  of  Prince  Charles 
by  creating  a  wool-famine  in  the  Netherlands  would  be  pur- 
chased at  their  expense.  It  was  a  game  that  two  could  play  at, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  retaliative  measures  were  resorted  to 
on  the  other  side  very  injurious  to  English  interests. 

When  therefore  it  was  rumoured  that  Henry  VIII.  was  about 
to  send  an  embassy  to  Flanders,  to  settle  international  disputes 
between  the  two  countries,  it  was  not  surprising  that  London 
merchants  should  complain  to  the  King  of  their  own  special 
grievances,  and  pray  that  their  interests  might  not  be  neglected. 
It  seems  that  they  pressed  upon  the  King  to  attach  "  Young 
More,"  as  he  was  still  called,  to  the  embassy,  specially  to  repre- 
sent themselves.  So,  according  to  Roper,  it  was  at  the  suit  and 
instance  of  the  English  merchants, "  and  with  the  King's  consent," 
that  in  May  1515  More  was  sent  out  on  an  embassy  with  Bishop 
Tunstal,  Sampson,  and  others  into  Flanders. 

The  ambassadors  were  appointed  generally  to  obtain  a  renewal 
and  continuance  of  the  old  treaties  of  intercourse  between  the 
two  countries,  but  More,  aided  by  a  John  Clifford,  "  governor  of 
the  English  merchants,"  was  specially  charged  with  the  com- 
mercial matters  in  dispute:  Wolsey  informing  Sampson  of  this, 
and  Sampson  replying  that  he  "is  pleased  with  the  honour  of 
being  named  in  the  King's  commission  with  Tunstal  and  '  Young 
More.'  " 

The  party  were  detained  in  the  city  of  Bruges  about  four 


214  The  Oxford  Reformers  D 

months.  They  found  it  by  no  means  easy  to  allay  the  bitter 
feelings  which  had  been  created  by  the  prohibition  of  the  export 
of  wool  and  other  alleged  injuries.  In  September  they  moved 
on  to  Brussels^  and  in  October  to  Antwerp,  and  it  was  not  till 
towards  the  end  of  the  year  that  More,  having  at  last  successfully 
terminated  his  part  in  the  negotiations,  was  able  to  return  home. 


II.  COLET  S  SERMON  ON  THE  INSTALLATION  OF      , 
CARDINAL  WOLSEY    (1515) 

During  the  absence  of  More,  on  his  embassy  to  Flanders,  , 
Wolsey,  quit  of  a  Parliament  which,  however  selfish  and  careless  ,j 
of  the  true  interests  of  the  Commonweal,  and  especially  of  the  i| 
poorer  classes,  had  shown  some  symptoms  of  grumbling  at  royal 
demands,  had  pushed  on  more  rapidly  than  ever  his  schemes  of 
personal  ambition. 

His  first  step  had  been  to  procure  from  the  Pope,  through  the 
good  offices  of  Henry  VIII.,  a  cardinal's  hat,  It  might  possibly 
be  the  first  step  even  to  the  papal  chair;  at  least  it  would  secure 
to  him  a  position  within  the  realm  second  only  to  the  throne. 
It  chafed  him  that  so  unmanageable  a  man  as  Warham  should 
take  precedence  of  himself. 

Let  us  try  to  realise  the  magnificent  spectacle  of  the  installa- 
tion of  the  great  Cardinal,  for  the  sake  of  the  part  Colet  took  in  it. 

It  was  on  Sunday,  November  i8,  1515,  that  the  ceremony 
was  performed  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Mass  was  sung  by 
Archbishop  Warham  (with  whom  Wolsey  had  already  quarrelled), 
Bishop  Fisher  acting  as  crosier-bearer.  The  Bishop  of  Lincoln 
read  the  Gospel  and  the  Bishop  of  Exeter  the  Epistle.  The 
Archbishops  of  Armagh  and  Dublin,  the  Bishops  of  Winchester, 
Durham,  Norwich,  Ely,  and  Llandaff ,  the  Abbots  of  Westminster, 
St.  Albans,  Bury,  Glastonbury,  Reading,  Gloucester,  Winch- 
combe,  and  Tewkesbury,  and  the  Prior  of  Coventry,  were  all  in  1 
attendance  in  pontificalibus.  All  the  magnates  of  the  realm 
were  collected  to  swell  the  pomp  of  the  ceremony.  Before  this  j 
august  assemblage  and  crowds  of  spectators  Dean  Colet  had  to 
deliver  an  address  to  Wolsey. 

As  was  usual  with  him,  he  preached  a  sermon  suited  to  the 
occasion,  more  so  perhaps  than  Wolsey  intended.    First  speak- 
ing to  the  people,  he  explained  the  meaning  of  the  title  of 
"  Cardinal,"  the  high  honour  and  dignity  of  the  office,  the  reasons  ; 
why  it  was  conferred  on  Wolsey,  alluding,  first,  to  his  merits, 


ISIS]  Wolsey  made  Cardinal  215 

naming  some  of  his  particular  virtues  and  services;  secondly, 
to  the  desire  of  the  Pope  to  show,  by  conferring  this  dignity  on 
one  of  the  subjects  of  Henry  VIII.,  his  zeal  and  favour  to  his 
grace.  He  dwelt  upon  the  great  power  and  dignity  of  the  rank 
of  cardinal,  how  it  corresponded  to  the  order  of  "  Seraphim  " 
in  the  celestial  hierarchy,  "  which  continually  burneth  in  the 
love  of  the  glorious  Trinity."  ^  And  having  thus  magnified  the 
office  of  cardinal  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  he  turned  to  Wolsey 
— so  proud,  ambitious,  and  fond  of  magnificence — and  addressed 
to  him  these  few  faithful  words: — 

"  Let  not  one  in  so  proud  a  position,  made  most  illustrious 
by  the  dignity  of  such  an  honour,  be  puffed  up  by  its  greatness. 
But  remember  that  our  Saviour,  in  his  own  person,  said  to  his 
disciples,  '  I  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,' 
and  '  He  who  is  least  among  you  shall  be  greatest  in  the  king- 
dom of  heaven; '  and  again,  '  He  who  exalts  himself  shall  be 
humbled,  and  he  who  humbles  himself  shall  be  exalted.'  "  And 
then,  with  reference  to  his  secular  duties,  and  having  perhaps 
in  mind  the  rumours  of  Wolsey's  partiality  and  the  unfairness 
of  recent  legislation  to  the  poorer  classes,  he  added — "  My  Lord 
Cardinal,  be  glad,  and  enforce  yourself  always  to  do  and  execute 
righteousness  to  rich  and  poor,  with  mercy  and  truth." 

Then,  addressing  himself  once  more  to  the  people,  he  desired 
them  to  pray  for  the  Cardinal  that  "  he  might  observe  these 
things,  and  in  accomplishing  the  same  receive  his  reward  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 

This  sermon  ended,  Wolsey,  kneeling  at  the  altar,  had  the 
formal  service  read  over  him  by  Warham,  and  the  cardinal's  hat 
placed  upon  his  head.  The  Te  Deum  was  then  sung,  and,  sur- 
rounded by  dukes  and  earls,  Wolsey  left  the  Abbey  and  passed 
in  gorgeous  procession  to  his  own  decorated  halls,  there  to  enter- 
tain the  King  and  Queen,  in  all  pomp  and  splendour,  bent  upon 
pursuing  his  projects  of  self-exaltation,  regardless  of  Colet's 
honest  words  so  faithfully  spoken,  and  little  dreaming  that 
they  would  ever  find  fulfilment  in  his  own  fall. 

Five  weeks  only  after  this  event,  on  December  22,  Warham 
resigned  the  great  seal  into  the  King's  hands,  and  the  Cardinal 
Archbishop  of  York  assumed  the  additional  title  of  Lord  Chan- 
cellor of  England.    On  the  same  day  Parliament,  which  had  met 

^  "  First  after  the  Trinity  come  the  Seraphic  spirits,  all  flaming  and  on 
fire.  .  .  .  They  are  loving  beings  of  the  highest  order,  etc."  Colet's 
abstract  of  the  Celestial  Hierarchy  of  Dionysius.  Mr.  Lupton's  translation, 
p.  20. 


21 6  The  Oxford  Rerormers  [1515 

again  on  November  12  to  grant  a  further  subsidy,  was  dissolved, 
and  Wolsey  commenced  to  rule  the  kingdom,  according  to  his 
own  will  and  pleasure,  for  eight  years,  without  a  Parliament, 
and  with  but  little  regard  to  the  opinions  of  other  members  of 
the  King's  council. 


in.  more's  "  UTOPIA  "  (1515) 

It  was  whilst  More's  keen  eye  was  anxiously  watching  the 
clouds  gathering  upon  the  political  horizon,  and  during  the 
leisure  snatched  from  the  business  of  his  embassy,  that  he  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  embodying  his  notions  on  social  and  political 
questions  in  a  description  of  the  imaginary  commonwealth  of 
the  Island  of  "  Utopia  " — "  Nusquama  " — or  ''  Nowhere." 

It  does  not  often  happen  that  two  friends,  engaged  in  fellow- 
work,  publish  in  the  same  year  two  books,  both  of  which  take 
an  independent  and  a  permanent  place  in  the  literature  of 
Europe.  But  this  may  be  said  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum  of 
Erasmus  and  the  Utopia  of  More. 

Still  more  remarkable  is  it  that  two  such  works,  written  by  two 
such  men,  should,  in  measure,  be  traceable  to  the  influence  and 
express  the  views  of  a  more  obscure  but  greater  man  than  they. 
Yet,  in  truth,  much  of  the  merit  of  both  these  works  belongs 
indirectly  to  Colet. 

As  the  Novum  Instrumentum,  upon  careful  examination, 
proves  to  be  the  expression,  on  the  part  of  Erasmus,  not  merely 
of  his  own  isolated  views,  but  of  the  views  held  in  common  by 
the  little  band  of  Oxford  Reformers  on  the  great  subject  of 
which  it  treats;  so  the  Utopia  will  be  found  to  be  in  great 
measure  the  expression,  on  More's  part,  of  the  views  of  the  same 
little.  band.of  friends  -on^Qcial^ and  political  questions .  On  rnost 
of  these  questions  Erasmus  and"  More,  in  the  mmn,  thought 
alike:  and  they  owed  much  of  their  common  convictions 
indirectly  to  the  influence  of  Colet. 

The  first  book  of  the  Utopia  was  written  after  the  second, 
under  circumstances  and  for  reasons  which  will  in  due  course  be 
mentioned. 

The  second  book  was  complete  in  itself,  and  contained  the 

description,  by  Raphael,  the  supposed  traveller,  of  the  Utopian 

^  commonwealth.     Erasmus  informs  us  that  More's  intention  in 

]  writing  was  to  point  out  where  and  from  what  causes  European 

[commonwealths  were  at  fault,  and  he  adds  that  it  was  written 


I5I5]  More*s  "  Utopia  "  217 

with  special  reference  to  English  politics,  with  which  More  was 
most  familiar. 

Whilst,  however,  we  trace  its  close  connection  with  the  political 
events  passing  at  the  time  in  England,  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  More  was  so  gifted  with  prescience  that  he  knew  what 
course  matters  would  take.  He  could  not  know,  for  instance, 
that  Wolsey  was  about  to  take  the  reigns  of  government  so 
completely  into  his  own  hands  as  to  dispense  with  a  Parliament 
for  so  many  years  to  come.  As  yet,  More  and  his  friends,  in 
spite  of  Wolsey' s  ostentation  and  vanity,  which  they  freely 
ridiculed,  had  a  high  opinion  of  his  character  and  powers.  It 
was  not  unnatural  that,  knowing  that  Wolsey  was  a  friend  to 
education,  and,  to  some  extent  at  least,  inclined  to  patronise  the 
projects  of  Erasmus,  they  should  hope  for  the  best.  Hence  the 
satire  contained  in  Utopia  was  not  likely  to  be  directed  person- 
ally against  Wolsey,  however  much  his  policy  might  come  in  for 
its  share  of  criticisms  along  with  the  rest. 

The  point  of  the  Utopia  consisted  in  the  contrast  presented 
by  its  ideal  commonwealth  to  the  condition  and  habits  of  the 
European  commonwealths  of  the  period.  This  contrast  is  most 
often  left  to  be  drawn  by  the  reader  from  his  own  knowledge  of 
contemporary  politics,  and  hence  the  peculiar  advantage  of  the 
choice  by  More  of  such  a  vehicle  for  the  bold  satire  it  contained. 
Upon  any  other  hypothesis  than  that  the  evils  against  which  its 
satire  was  directed  were  admitted  to  be  real,  the  romance  of 
-Utopia  must  also  be  admitted  to  be  harmless.  To  pronounce 
it  to  be  dangerous  was  to  admit  its  truth. 

Take,  e.g.,  the  following  passage  relating  to  the  international 
policy  of  the  Utopians: — 

''  While  other  nations  are  always  entering  into  leagues,  and 
breaking  and  renewing  them,  the  Utopians  never  enter  into  a 
league  with  any  nation.  For  what  is  the  use  of  a  league  ?  they 
say.  As  though  there  were  no  natural  tie  between  man  and 
man !  and  as  though  any  one  who  despised  this  natural  tie  would, 
forsooth,  regard  mere  words!  They  hold  this  opinion  all  the 
more  strongly,  because  in  that  quarter  of  the  world  the  leagues 
and  treaties  of  princes  are  not  observed  as  faithfully  as  they 
should  be.  For  in  Europe,  and  especially  in  those  parts  of  it 
where  the  Christian  faith  and  religion  are  professed,  the  sanctity 
of  leagues  is  held  sacred  and  inviolate;  partly  owing  to  the 
justice  and  goodness  of  princes,  and  partly  from  their  fear  and 
reverence  of  the  authority  of  the  Popes,  who,  as  they  themselves 
never  enter  into  obligations  which  they  do  not  most  religiously 


21 8  The  Oxford  Reformers  [151s  i 

perform  [!],  command  other  princes  under  all  circumstances  to  | 
abide  by  their  promises,  and  punish  delinquents  by  pastoral  i 
censure  and  discipline.  For  indeed^  with  good  reason,  it  would  ^ 
be  thought  a  most  scandalous  thing  for  those  whose  peculiar  j 
designation  is  '  the  faithful/  to  be  wanting  in  the  faithful  observ-  | 
ance  of  treaties.  But  in  those  distant  regions  ...  no  faith  is  \ 
to  be  placed  in  leagues,  even  though  confirmed  by  the  most  \ 
solemn  ceremonies.  Some  flaw  is  easily  found  in  their  wording  \ 
which  is  intentionally  made  ambiguous  so  as  to  leave  a  loop-  ' 
hole  through  which  the  parties  may  break  both  their  leagues  and  \ 
their  faith.  Which  craft — y^s,  fraud  and  deceit — if  it  were  per-  ! 
petrated  with  respect  to  a  contract  between  private  parties,  ' 
they  would  indignantly  denounce  as  sacrilege  and  deserving  the  j 
gallows,  whilst  those  who  suggest  these  very  things  to  princes,  ' 
glory  in  being  the  authors  of  them.  Whence  it  comes  to  pass  ' 
that  justice  seems  altogether  a  plebeian  and  vulgar  virtue,  quite  j 
below  the  dignity  of  royalty;  or  at  least  there  must  be  two  kinds  I 
of  it,  the  one  for  common  people  and  the  poor,  very  narrow  and  | 
contracted,  the  other,  the  virtue  of  princes,  much  more  dignified  j 
and  free,  so  that  that  only  is  unlawful  to  them  which  they  don't  j 
like.  The  morals  of  princes  being  such  in  that  region,  it  is  not,  j 
I  think,  without  reason  that  the  Utopians  enter  into  no  leagues  j 
at  all.  Perhaps  they  would  alter  their  opinion  if  they  lived  ; 
amongst  us."  ^  -i 

Read  without  reference  to  the  international  history  of  the  ' 
period,  these  passages  appear  perfectly  harmless.  But  read  in  \ 
the  light  of  that  political  history  which,  during  the  past  few  j 
years,  had  become  so  mixed  up  with  the  personal  history  of  the  j 
Oxford  Reformers,  recollecting  "  how  religiously  "  treaties  had  1 
been  made  and  broken  by  almost  every  sovereign  in  Europe —  I 
Henry  VIII.  and  the  Pope  included — the  words  in  which  the  ! 
justice  and  goodness  of  European  princes  is  so  mildly  and  i 
modestly  extolled  become  almost  as  bitter  in  their  tone  as  the  j 
cutting  censure  of  Erasmus  in  the  Praise  oj  Folly,  or  his  more  : 
recent  and  open  satire  upon  kings.  I 

Again,  bearing  in  mind  the  wars  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  how  ! 

evidently  the  love  of  military  glory  was  the  motive  v/hich  induced  !! 

him  to  engage  in  them,  the  following  passage  contains  almost  as  | 

direct  and  pointed  a  censure  of  the  King's  passion  for  war  as  ] 

the  sermon  preached  by  Colet  in  his  presence : —  i 

""  The  Utopians  hate  war  as  plainly  brutal,  although  practised  \ 

■i 

^  Utopia,  I  St  ed.  T.  Martins.     Louvain  [151 6],  chap.  "  De  Fcederibus."  j* 

Leaf  k,  ii.  I 


possiDie 
i  again,  t 
he  had  j 
id  been  | 


151S]  More's  "  Utopia  "  219 

more  eagerly  by  man  than  by  any  other  animal.    And  contrary 
to  the  sentiment  of  nearly  every  other  nation^  they  regard 
nothing  more  inglorious  than  glory  derived  from  war."  ^ 
i     Turning  from  mternational  politics  to  questions  of  internal 
'  policy,  and  bearing  in  mind  the  hint  of  Erasmus,  that  More  had 
in  view  chiefly  the  politics  of  his  own  country,  it  is  impossible 
not  to  recognise  in  the  Utopia  the  expression,  again  and 
of  the  sense  of  7£)rong  stirred  up  in  More's  heart,  as 
witnessed  how  every  interest  of  the  commonwealth  had 
sacrificed  to  Henry  VIII. 's  passion  for  war;  and  how,  in  sharing 
the  burdens  it  entailed,  and  dealing  with  the  social  evils  it 
brought  to  the  surface,  the  interests  of  the  poor  had  been  sacri- 
ficed to  spare  the  pockets  of  the  rich;    how,  whilst  the  very 
wages  of  the  labourer  had  been  taxed  to  support  the  long- 
continued  war  expenditure,  a  selfish  Parliament,  under  colour  of 
the  old  "  statutes  of  labourers,"  had  attempted  to  cut  down  the 
amount  of  his  wages,  and  to  rob  him  of  that  fair  rise  in  the  price 
.  of  his  labour  which  the  drain  upon  the  labour  market  had 
;  produced. 

j      It  is  impossible,  not  to  recognise  that  the  recent  statutes  of 
;  labourers  was  the  target  against  which  More's  satire  was  specially 
directed  in  the  following  paragraph : — 

"  Let  any  one  dare  to  compare  with  the  even  justice  which 
rules  in  Utopia,  the  justice  of  other  nations;  amongst  whom, 
let  me  die,  if  I  find  any  trace  at  all  of  equity  and  justice.  For 
where  is  the  justice,  that  noblemen,  goldsmiths,  and  usurers, 
and  those  classes  who  either  do  nothing  at  all,  or,  in  what  they 
do,  are  of  no  great  service  to  the  commonwealth,  should  live 
a  genteel  and  splendid  life  in  idleness  or  unproductive  labour; 
whilst  in  the  meantime  the  servant,  the  waggoner,  the  mechanic, 
and  the  peasant,  toiling  almost  longer  and  harder  than  the  horse, 
in  labour  so  necessary  that  no  commonwealth  could  endure  a 
year  without  it,  leading  a  life  so  wretched  that  the  condition  of 
the  horse  seems  more  to  be  envied;  his  labour  being  less  constant, 
his  food  more  delicious  to  his  palate,  and  his  mind  disturbed  by 
no  fears  for  the  future  ?  .  .  . 

"  Is  not  that  public  unjust  and  ungrateful  which  confers  such 
benefits  upon  the  gentry  (as  they  are  called)  and  goldsmiths  and 
others  of  that  class,  whilst  it  cares  to  do  nothing  at  all  for  the 
benefit  of  peasants,  colliers,  servants,  waggoners,  and  mechanics, 
without  which  no  republic  could  exist?  Is  not  that  republic 
unjust  which,  after  these  men  have  spent  the  springtime  of  their 
^  Utopia,  ist  ed.  "  De  Re  Militari."     Leaf  k,  iii. 


2  20  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1515 


lives  in  labour,  have  become  burdened  with  age  and  disease,  and 
are  in  want  of  every  comfort,  unmindful  of  all  their  toil,  and 
forgetful  of  all  their  services,  rewards  them  only  by  a  miserable 
death? 

"  Worse  than  all,  the  rich  constantly  endeavour  to  pare  away 
something  further  from  the  daily  wages  of  the  poor,  by  private 
fraud,  and  even  by  public  laws,  so  that  the  already  existing  in- 
justice (that  those  from  whom  the  republic  derives  the  most 
benefit  should  receive  the  least  reward)  is  made  still  more  unjust 
through  the  enactments  of  public  law  I  Thus,  after  careful  re- 
flection, it  seems  to  me,  as  I  hope  for  mercy,  that  our  modern 
republics  are  nothing  but  a  conspiracy  of  the  rich,  pursuing  their 
own  selfish  interests  under  the  name  of  a  republic.  They  devise 
and  invent  all  ways  and  means  whereby  they  may,  in  the  first 
place,  secure  to  themselves  the  possession  of  what  they  have 
amassed  by  evil  means;  and,  in  the  second  place,  secure  to  their 
own  use  and  profit  the  work  and  labour  of  the  poor  at  the  lowest 
possible  price.  And  so  soon  as  the  rich,  in  the  name  of  the 
public  {i.e.  even  in  the  name  of  the  poor),  choose  to  decide 
that    these    schemes    shall    be    adopted,  then    they  become 

The^ whole  framework  of  the  Utopian  commonwealth, bears 
^taess  to  More's  conviction  that  what  should  be  aimed  at  in 
his  own  country  and  elsewhere  was  a  true  community — not  a 
irich  and  educated  aristocracy  on  the  one  hand,  existing  side  by 
side  with  a  poor  and  ignorant  peasantry  qdl  the  .other?:datii^«^  ;i 
people,  well-to-do  and  educated  throughout.  \ 

Thus,  More's  opinion  was  that  in  England  in  his  time,  "  far  \ 
more  than  four  parts  of  the  whole  [people],  divided  into  ten,  "^ 
could  never  read  English,"  ^  and  probably  the  education  of  the  \ 
other  six-tenths  was  anything  but  satisfactory.  He  shared  ■ 
Colet's  faith  in  education,  and  represented  that  in  Utopia  every 
child  was  properly  educated? 

Again,  the  great  object  of  the  social  economy  of  Utopia  was 
not  to  increase  the  abundance  of  luxuries,  or  to  amass  a  vast 
accumulation  in  few  hands,  or  even  in  national  or  royal  hands, 
but  to  lessen  the  hours  oj  labour  to  the  working  man.  By  spread- 
ing the  burden  of  labour  more  evenly  over  the  whole  com- 
munity— by  taking  care  that  there  shall  be  no  idle  classes,  be 
they  beggars  or  begging  friars — More  expressed  the  opinion  that 

*  Utopia,  I  St  ed.  Leaves  m,  iv.  v. 

'More's  English  Works:  The  Apology,  p.  850. 

'  Utopia,  ist  ed.  Leaf  h,  i. 


J5I5]  More's  "  Utopia  ''  221 

hours  of  labour  to  the  working  man  might  probably  be  reduced 
to  six.'^ 

Again :  living  himself  in  Bucklersbury,  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
dirt  and  filth  of  London's  narrow  streets;  surrounded  by  the 
unclean,  ill-ventilated  houses  of  the  poor,  whose  floors  of  clay 
and  rushes,  never  cleansed,  were  pointed  out  by  Erasmus  as 
breeding  pestilence,  and  inviting  the  ravages  of  the  sweating 
sickness;  hijmself  a  commissioner  of  sewers,  and  having  thus 
some  practical  knowledge^ofLondon^s '  sanitary  arrangements; 
More  described  the  towns  of  Utopia  as  well  and  regularly  built, 
with  wide  streets,  waterworks,  hospitals,  and  numerous  common 
halls ;  all  the  houses  well  protected  from  the  weather,  as  nearly 
as  might  be  fireproof,  three  stories  high,  with  plenty  of  windows, 
and  doors  both  back  and  front,  the  back  door  always  opening 
into  a  well-kept  garden.^  All  this  was  Utopian  doubtless,  and^ 
the  result  in  Utopia  of  the  still  more  Utopian  abolition  of 
private  property;  but  the  gist  and  point  of  it  consisted  in  the 
contrast  it  presented  with  what  he  saw  around  him  in  Europe, 
and  especially  in  England,  and  men|could  hardly  fail  to  draw^ 
the  lesson  he  intended  to  teach. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  here  to  dwell  further  upon  the 
details  of  the  social  arrangements  of  More's  ideal  common- 
wealth,^  or  to  enter  at  length  upon  the  philosophical  opinions 
of  the  Utopians ;  but  a  word  or  two  will  be  needful  to  point  out 
the  connection  of  the  latter  with  the  views  of  that  little  band  of 
friends  whose  joint  history  I  am  here  trymg  to  trace. 

One  of  thepoints  most  importaiij^  and  jdiaructerj 

in  ydi^tdh'^^^ioh  runs  through,  the  whole  work,  and  which  may, 
I  thu^,h'Q,tr2i(:td_^]s,Q.^^  of  the  history  of  the 

Oxford  Rfiiormers.  Their  scientific  knowledge  was  imperfect, 
as  it  needs  must  have  been,  before  the  days  of  Copernicus  and 
Newton;  but  they  had  their  eyes  fearlessly  open  in  every 
direction,  with  no  foolish  misgivinp^s  lest  science  and  Christianitv 
might  be  found  to  clash!  They  remembered  (what  is  not  always 
reimtnbet'e~d~il!^this  nineteenth  century)  that  if  there  be  any 
truth  in  Christianity,  nature  and  her  laws  on  the  one  hand  and 
Christianity  and  her  laws  on  the  other,  being  framed  and  fixed 
by  the  same  founder,  must  be  in  harmony,  and  that  therefore 

^  Utopia,  ist  ed.  Leaf  f,  iii.  ^  Ibid.  chap.  "  De  Urbibus,"  Leaf  f,  i. 

^  I  may  be  allowed  to  refer  the  reader  to  the  valuable  mention  of 
Utopia  in  the  preface  to  Mr.  Brewer's  Calendar  of  the  Letters,  etc.,  of 
Henry  VIII.,  vol.  ii.  cclxvii  et  seq.,  where  its  connection  with  the  political 
and  social  condition  of  Europe  at  the  time  is  well  pointed  out. 


2  22  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1515 

for  Christians  to  act  contrary  to  the  laws  of  nature,  or  to  shut 
their  eyes  to  facts,  on  the  ground  that  they  are  opposed  to 
Christianity,  is — to  speak  plainly — to  fight  against  one  portion 
of  the  Almighty's  laws  under  the  supposed  sanction  of  another ; 
to  fight,  therefore,  without  the  least  chance  of  success,  and  with  ^ 
every  prospect  of  doing  harm  instead  of  good. 

Hence  the  moral  philosophy  of  the  Utopians  was  both  Utili- 
tarian and   Christian.     Its   distinctive   features,   according  to 
More,  were — first,  that  they  placed  pleasure  (in  the  sense  of 
"  utility  ")  as  the  chief  object  of  life;  and,  secondly,  that  they  > 
drew  their  arguments  in  support  of  this  as  well  from  the  principles  1 
ofjeligion  as  from  natural  reason.^  ««™.,,,-.,-^--^ 

^  In  support  of  the  abstract  here  given  of  the  moral  philosophy  of  the 
Utopians,  see  Utopia,  ist  ed.  Leaf  h,  ii.  et  seq. 

For  the  following  careful  translation  of  the  most  material  part  of  it,  I 
am  indebted  to  the  Rev.  W.  G.  Rouse,  M.A. 

"  The  same  points  of  moral  philosophy  are  discussed  by  the  Utopians 
as  by  us.  They  inquire  what  is  good  in  respect  as  well  of  the  mind  as  of 
the  body,  as  also  of  external  things;  also,  whether  the  title  good  be  applic- 
able to  all  these,  or  to  the  mental  qualities  alone.  They  discuss  virtue 
and  pleasure.  But  their  first  and  principal  topic  of  debate  is  concerning 
human  happiness — on  what  thing  or  things  they  consider  it  to  depend. 

"  But  here  they  seem  more  inclined  than  they  should  be  to  that  party 
which  advocates  pleasure,  as  being  that  which  they  define  as  either  the 
whole,  or  the  most  important  part  of  human  happiness.  And,  what  is 
more  surprising,  they  even  draw  arguments  in  support  of  so  nice  an 
opinion  from  the  principles  of  religion,  which  is  usually  sombre  and  severe, 
and  of  a  stern  and  melancholy  character.  For  they  never  dispute  about 
happiness  without  joining  some  principles  drawn  from  religion  to  those 
derived  from  rational  philosophy;  without  which,  reason  is,  in  their 
opinion,  defective  and  feeble  in  the  search  for  true  happiness.  Their 
religious  principles  are  as  follow.  The  soul  is  immortal,  and,  by  the  good- 
ness of  God,  born  to  happiness.  He  has  appointed  rewards  after  this  life 
for  man's  virtues  and  good  deeds — punishment  for  his  sins.  Now,  though 
these  principles  appertain  to  religion,  yet  they  think  that  they  are  led  by 
reason  to  believe  and  assent  to  them.  Apart  from  these  principles  they 
unhesitatingly  declare  that  no  man  can  be  so  foolish  as  not  to  see  that 
pleasure  is  to  be  pursued  for  its  own  sake  through  thick  and  thin ;  so  long 
as  he  takes  care  only  not  to  let  a  less  pleasure  stand  in  the  way  of  a  greater, 
and  not  to  pvursue  any  pleasure  which  is  followed  in  its  turn  by  pain. 

"  For  they  consider  virtue  austere  and  hard   to  strive  after;    and  they  \ 
deem  it  the  greatest  madness  for  a  man  not  only  to  exclude  all  pleasure  ] 
from  life,  but  even  voluntarily  to  suffer  pain  without  prospect  of  future  ] 
profit  (for  what  profit  can  there  be,  if  you  gain  nothing  after  death,  after 
having  spent  the  whole  of  your  life  without  pleasure,  that  is,  in  misery?). 

"  But  now  they  do  not  place  happiness  in  the  enjoyment  of  every  kind 
of  pleasure,  but  in  that  only  which  is  honest  and  good.  For  they  think 
that  our  nature  is  attracted  to  happiness,  as  to  its  supreme  good,  by  that 
very  virtue  to  which  alone  the  opposite  party  ascribes  happiness.  For 
they  define  virtue,  the  living  in  accordance  with  nature;  inasmuch  as,  to 
this  end,  we  are  created  by  God.  They  believe  that  he  follows  the  guidance 
of  nature  who  obeys  the  dictates  of  reason  in  the  pursuit  or  avoidance  of 
anything;  and  they  say  that  reason  first  of  all  inflames  men  with  a  love  \ 
and  reverence  for  the  Divine  Majesty,  to  whom  we  owe  it  both  that  we   , 

;l 


1515]  More's  "  Utopia  "  223 

They  defined  "  pleasure  "  as  "  every  emotion  or  state  of  body 
or  mind  in  which  nature  leads  us  to  take  delight."  And  from 
reason  they  deduced,  as  modern  utilitarians  do,  that  not  merely 
the  pleasure  of  the  moment  must  be  regarded  as  the  object  of 
life,  but  what  will  produce  the  greatest  amount  and  highest  kind 

exist,  and  that  we  are  capable  of  happiness;  and  secondly,  that  reason 
impresses  upon  us  and  urges  us  to  pass  our  lives  with  the  least  amount  of 
care  and  the  greatest  amount  of  pleasure  ourselves;  and,  as  we  are  bound 
to  do  by  the  natural  ties  of  society,  to  give  our  assistance  to  the  rest  of 
mankind  towards  attaining  the  same  ends.  For  never  was  there  a  man 
so  stem  a  follower  of  *  virtue,'  or  hater  of  pleasure,  who,  whilst  thus  en- 
joining upon  you  laboiurs,  watchings,  and  discomfort,  would  not  teU  you 
likewise  to  relieve  the  want  and  misfortunes  of  others  to  the  utmost  of 
yomr  ability,  and  would  not  think  it  commendable  for  men  to  be  of  mutual 
help  and  comfort  to  one  another  in  the  name  of  humanity.  If,  then,  it 
be  in  human  nature  (and  no  virtue  is  more  peculiar  to  man)  to  relieve  the 
misery  of  others,  and,  by  removing  their  troubles,  to  restore  them  to  the 
enjoyment  of  life,  that  is,  to  pleasure — does  not  nature,  which  prompts 
men  to  do  this  for  others,  lurge  them  also  to  do  it  for  themselves?  For  a 
joyful  life — that  is,  a  life  of  pleasure — is  either  an  evil — in  which  case,  not 
only  should  you  not  help  others  to  lead  such  a  life,  but,  as  far  as  you  can, 
prevent  them  from  leading  it,  as  being  hurtful  and  deadly;  or,  if  it  be  a 
good  thing,  and  if  it  be  not  only  lawful,  but  a  matter  of  duty  to  enable 
others  to  lead  such  a  life — why  should  it  not  be  good  for  yourself  first  of 
all,  who  ought  not  to  be  less  careful  of  yourself  than  of  others?  For  when 
nature  teaches  you  to  be  kind  to  others,  she  does  not  bid  you  to  be  hard 
and  severe  to  yourself  in  return.  Nature  herself  then,  in  their  belief, 
enjoins  a  happy  life — that  is,  pleasure — as  the  end  of  all  our  efforts;  and 
to  live  by  this  rule,  they  call  virtue. 

"  But,  since  nature  urges  men  to  strive  together  to  make  life  more 
cheerful  (which,  indeed,  she  rightly  does;  for  no  man  is  so  much  raised 
above  the  condition  of  his  fellows  as  to  be  the  only  favotirite  of  nature, 
which  cherishes  alike  all  whom  she  binds  together  by  the  tie  of  a  common 
shape),  she  surely  bids  you  urgently  to  beware  of  attending  so  much  to 
your  own  interest  as  to  prejudice  the  interest  of  others.  They  think,  there- 
fore, that  not  only  all  contracts  between  private  citizens  should  be  kept, 
but  also  pubUc  laws,  which  either  a  good  prince  has  legally  enacted,  or  a 
people  neither  oppressed  by  t3nranny,  nor  circumvented  by  fraud,  has 
sanctioned  by  common  consent  for  the  apportionment  of  the  conveniences 
of  life ;  that  is,  the  material  of  pleasure.  Within  the  limits  of  these  laws, 
it  is  common  prudence  to  look  after  your  own  interests;  it  is  a  matter  of 
duty  to  have  regard  for  the  public  weal  also.  But  to  attempt  to  deprive 
another  of  pleasure  in  favouring  your  own,  is  to  do  a  real  injury.  On  the 
other  hand,  to  deprive  yourself  of  something  in  order  that  you  may  give 
it  to  another,  that  is  indeed  an  act  of  humanity  and  kindness  which  in 
itself  never  costs  so  much  as  it  brings  back.  For  it  is  not  only  repaid  by 
the  interchange  of  kindnesses;  but  also  the  very  consciousness  of  a  good 
action  done  and  the  recollection  of  the  love  and  gratitude  of  those  whom 
you  have  benefited,  afford  more  pleasure  to  the  mind,  than  the  thing  from 
which  you  have  abstained  would  have  afforded  to  the  body.  And,  lastly, 
God  repays  the  loss  of  these  small  and  fleeting  pleasures  with  vast  and 
endless  joy;  a  doctrine  of  the  truth  of  which  religion  easily  convinces  a 
believing  mind. 

"  Thus,  on  these  grotmds,  they  determine  that,  all  things  being  carefully 
weighed  and  considered,  all  our  actions,  and  our  very  virtues  among  them, 
regard  pleasure  and  happiness  after  all  as  their  object." — Uiopm,  ist  ed. 
Leaf  h,  ii.  et  seq. 


224  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1515 

of  pleasure  in  the  long  run ;  that^  e.g.,  a  greater  pleasure  must 
not  be  sacrificed  to  a  lesser  one,  or  a  pleasure  pursued  which 
will  be  followed  by  pain.  And  from  reason  they  also  deduced 
that,  nature  having  bound  men  together  by  the  ties  of  society, 
and  no  one  in  particular  being  a  special  favourite  of  nature, 
men  are  bound,  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  to  regard  the  pleasures 
of  others  as  well  as  their  own — to  act,  in  fact,  in  the  spirit  of  the 
golden  rule;  which  course  of  action,  though  it  may  involve 
some  immediate  sacrifice,  they  saw  clearly  never  costs  so  much 
as  it  brings  back,  both  in  the  interchange  of  mutual  benefits, 
and  in  the  mental  pleasure  of  conferring  kindnesses  on  others. 
And  thus  they  arrived  at  the  same  result  as  modern  utilitarians, 
that,  while  "  nature  enjoins  pleasure  as  the  end  of  all  men's 
efforts,"  she  enjoins  such  a  reasonable  and  far-sighted  pursuit 
of  it  that  "  to  live  by  this  rule  is  virtue." 

In  other  words,  in  Utopian  philosophy,  tUtlity  was  recognised 
as  a  criterion  of  right  and  wrong ;  and  from  experience  of  what, 
under  the  laws  of  nature,  is  man's  real  far-sighted  interest,  was 
derived  a  sanction  to  the  golden  rule.  And  thus,  instead  of 
setting  themselves  against  the  doctrine  of  utility,  as  some  would 
do,  on  the  ground  of  a  supposed  opposition  to  Christianity,  they 
recognised  the  identity  between  the  two  standards.  They 
recognised,  as  Mr.  Mill  urges,  that  Christians  ought  to  do  now, 
"  in  the  golden  rule  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  complete  spirit 
of  the  ethics  of  utility."  ^ 

The  Utopians  had  no  hesitation  in  defining  *'  virtue  "  as 
"  living  according  to  nature;  "  for,  they  said,  "  to  this  end  we 
have  been  created  by  God."  Their  religion  itself  taught  them 
that  "  God  in  his  goodness  created  men  for  happiness;  "  and 
therefore  there  was  nothing  unnatural  in  his  rewarding,  with 
the  promise  of  endless  happiness  hereafter,  that  "  virtue  "  which 
is  living  according  to  those  very  laws  of  nature  which  He 
Himself  established  to  promote  the  happiness  of  men  on  earth. 

Nor  was  this,  in  More's  hands,  a  merely  philosophical  theory. 
He  made  the  right  practical  use  of  it  in  correcting  those  false 
notions  of  religion  and  piety  which  had  poisoned  the  morality 
of  the  middle  ages  and  soured  the  devotion  even  of  those 
mediaeval  mystics  whose  mission  it  was  to  uphold  the  true 
religion  of  the  heart.  Who  does  not  see  that  the  deep  devotion 
even  of  a  Tauler,  or  of  a  Thomas  a  Kempis,  would  have  been 
deepened  had  it  recognised  the  truth  that  the  religion  of  Christ 
was  intended  to  add  heartiness  and  happiness  to  daily  life,  and 
^  J.  S.  Mill's  Essay  on  Utilitarianism,  p.  24. 


I5I5]  Morels  "  Utopia  "  225 

not  to  draw  men  out  of  it;  that  the  highest  ideal  of  virtue  is, 
not  to  stamp  out  those  feehngs  and  instincts  which,  under  the 
rule  of  selfishness,  make  a  hell  of  earth,  but  so,  as  it  were,  to 
tune  them  into  harmony  that,  under  the  guidance  of  a  heart 
of  love,  they  may  add  to  the  charm  and  the  perfectness  of  life  ? 
The  ascetic  himself  who,  seeing  the  vileness  and  the  misery 
which  spring  out  of  selfish  riot  in  pleasure,  condemns  natural 
pleasure  as  almost  in  itself  a  sin,  fills  the  heaven  of  his  dreams 
with  white  robes,  golden  crowns,  harps,  music,  and  angelic 
songs.  Even  his  highest  ideal  of  perfect  existence  is  the  un- 
alloyed enjoyment  of  pleasure.  He  is  a  Utilitarian  in  his 
dreams  of  heaven. 

More,  in  his  Utopia,  dreamed  of  this  celestial  morality  as 
practised  under  earthly  conditions.  He  had  banished  selfish- 
ness from  his  commonwealth.  He  was  bitter  as  any  ascetic 
against  vanity,  and  empty  show,  and  shams  of  all  kinds,  as  well 
as  all  sensuality  and  excess;  but  his  definition  of  "  virtue  "  as 
"  living  according  to  nature  "  made  him  reject  the  ascetic 
notion  of  virtue  as  consisting  in  crossing  all  natural  desires,  in 
abstinence  from  natural  pleasure,  and  stamping  out  the  natural 
instincts.  The  Utopians,  More  said,  "  gratefully  acknowledged 
the  tenderness  of  the  great  Father  of  nature,  who  hath  given  us 
appetites  which  make  the  things  necessary  for  our  preservation 
also  agreeable  to  us.  How  miserable  would  life  be  if  hunger 
and  thirst  could  only  be  relieved  by  bitter  drugs."  ^  Hence, 
too,  the  Utopians  esteemed  it  not  only  "  madness,"  but  also 
ingratitude  to  God,  to  waste  the  body  by  fasting,  or  to  reject  the 
•  delights  of  life,  unless  by  so  doing  a  man  can  serve  the  public 
or  promote  the  happiness  of  others  .^ 

Hence  also  they  regarded  the  pursuit  of  natural  science,  the 
"  searching  out  the  secrets  of  nature,"  not  only  as  an  agreeable 
pursuit,  but  as  "  peculiarly  acceptable  to  God."  ^  Seeing  that 
they  believed  that  "  the  first  dictate  of  reason  is  love  and 
reverence  for  Him  to  whom  we  owe  all  we  have  and  all  we  can 
hope  for,"  *  it  was  natural  that  they  should  regard  the  pursuit 
of  science  rather  as  a  part  of  their  religion  than  as  in  any  way 
antagonistic  to  it.  But  their  science  was  not  likely  to  be 
speculative  and  dogmatic  like  that  of  the  Schoolmen;  accord- 
ingly, whilst  they  were  said  to  be  very  expert  in  the  mathe- 
matical sciences  {numerandi  et  metiendi  scientia),  they  knew 
nothing.  More  said,  "  of  what  even  boys  learn  here  in  the 

^  Utopia,  ist  ed.  Leaf  i,  i.  •  Leaf  i,  ii. 

»  Leaf  i,  iii.  «  Leaf  h,  ii. 

\  H 


1 

2  26  The  Oxford  Reformers  [151 5  ■ 

Parva  logicalia  ;  "  and  whilst,  by  long  use  and  observation,  they  i 

had  acquired  very  exact  knowledge  of  the  motions  of  the  planets  | 

and  stars,  and  even  of  winds  and  weather,  and  had  invented  j 

very  exact  instruments,  they  had  never  dreamed.  More  said,  of  : 

those  astrological  arts  of  divination  "  which  are  nowadays  in  i. 

vogue  amongst  Christians."  ^  j 

s 

From  the  expression  of  so  fearless  a  faith  in  the  consist-  '<-, 
ency  of  Christianity  with  science,  it  might  be  inferred  that  \ 
More  would  represent  the  religion  of  the  Utopians  as  at  once  \ 
broad  and  tolerant.     It  could  not  logically  be  otherwise.    The  | 
Utopians,  we  are  told,  differed  very  widely;  but  notwithstand-  1 
ing  all  their  different  objects  of  worship,  they  agreed  in  thinking  | 
that  there  is  one  Supreme  Being  who  made  and  governs  the  y 
world.     By  the  exigencies  of  the  romance,  the  Christian  religion  z; 
had  only  been  recently  introduced  into  the  island.    It  existed 
there  side  by  side  with  other  and  older  religions,  and  hence  the 
difficulties  of  complete  toleration  in  Utopia  were  much  greater 
hypothetically  than  they  would  be  in  any  European  country. 
Still,  sharing  Colet's  hatred  of  persecution.  More  represented 
that  it  was  one  of  the  oldest  laws  of  Utopia  *'  that  no  man  is   \ 
to  be  punished  for  his  religion."     Every  one  might  be  of  any   | 
religion  he  pleased,  and  might  use  argument  to  induce  others   j 
to  accept  it.    It  was  only  when  men  resorted  to  other  force  than   ! 
that  of  persuasion,  using  reproaches  and  violence,  that  they   i 
were  banished  from  Utopia;  and  then,  not  on  account  of  their   , 
religion,  and  irrespective  of  whether  their  religion  were  true  or   j 
false,  but  for  sowing  sedition  and  creating  a  tumult.^  1 

This  law  Utopus  founded  to  preserve  the  public  peace,  and   i 
for  the  interests  of  religion  itself.    Supposing  only  one  religion   ! 
to  be  true  and  the  rest  false  (which  he  dared  not  rashly  assert),   j 
Utopus  had  faith  that  in  the  long  run  the  innate  force  of  truth   , 
would  prevail,  if  supported  only  by  fair  argument,  and  not 
damaged  by  resort  to  violence  and  tumult.    Thus,  he  did  not 
punish  even  avowed  atheists,  although  he  considered  them  unfit 
for  any  public  trust  .^ 

Their  priests  were  very  few  in  number,  of  either  sex,*  and, 
like  all  their  other  magistrates,  elected  by  ballot  {suffragtis 
occultis);^  and  it  was  a  point  of  dispute  even  with  the  Utopian 
Christians,  whether  they  could  not  elect  their  own  Christian 
priests  in  like  manner,  and  qualify  them  to  perform  all  priestly 

*  Leaves  h,  i.  and  ii.  ^  Leaf  1,  iv. 

3  Ibid.  *  Leaf  m,  ii.  *  Leaf  m,  i. 


ISI5]  More's  "  Utopia  "  227 

offices,  without  any  apostolic  succession  or  authority  from  the 
Pope.^  Their  priests  were,  in  fact,  rather  conductors  of  the 
public  worship,  inspectors  of  the  public  morals,  and  ministers 
of  education,  than  "  priests  "  in  any  sacerdotal  sense  of  the 
word.  Thus  whilst  representing  Confession  as  in  common  use 
amongst  the  Utopians,  More  significantly  described  them  as 
confessing  not  to  the  priests  but  to  the  heads  of  families.- 
Whilst  also,  as  in  Europe,  such  was  the  respect  shown  them  that 
they  were  not  amenable  to  the  civil  tribunals,  it  was  said  to  be 
on  account  of  the  extreme  fewness  of  their  number,  and  the 
high  character  secured  by  their  mode  of  election,  that  no  great 
inconvenience  resulted  from  this  exemption  in  Utopian  practice. 

If  the  diversity  of  religions  in  Utopia  made  it  more  difficult 
to  suppose  perfect  toleration,  and  thus  made  the  contrast 
between  Utopian  and  European  practice  in  this  respect  all  the 
more  telHng,  so  also  was  this  the  case  in  respect  to  the  conduct 
of  public  worship. 

The  hatred  of  the  Oxford  Reformers  for  the  endless  dissensions 
of  European  Christians;  the  advice  Colet  was  wont  to  give  to 
theological  students,  "  to  keep  to  the  Bible  and  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  and  let  divines,  if  they  like,  dispute  about  the  rest;  " 
the  appeal  of  Erasmus  to  Servatius,  whether  it  would  not  be 
better  for  "  all  Christendom  to  be  regarded  as  one  monastery, 
and  all  Christians  as  belonging  to  the  same  religious  brother- 
hood " — all  pointed,  if  directed  to  the  practical  question  of 
public  worship,  to  a  mode  of  worship  in  which  all  of  every  shade 
of  sentiment  could  unite. 

This  might  be  a  dream  even  then,  while  as  yet  Christendom 
was  nominally  united  in  one  Catholic  Church;  and  still  more 
practically  impossible  in  a  country  like  Utopia,  where  men 
worshipped  the  Supreme  Being  under  different  symbols  and 
different  names,  as  it  might  be  now  even  in  a  Protestant 
country  like  England,  where  religion  seems  to  be  the  source  of 
social  divisions  and  castes  rather  than  a  tie  of  brotherhood, 
separating  men  in  their  education,  in  their  social  life,  and  even 
in  their  graves,  by  the  hard  line  of  sectarian  difference.  It 
might  be  a  dream,  but  it  was  one  worth  a  place  in  the  dream-land 
of  More's  ideal  commonwealth. 

Temples,  nobly  built  and  spacious,  in  whose  solemn  twilight 

men  of  all  sects  meet,  in  spite  of  their  distinctions,  to  unite  in  a 

public  worship  avowedly  so  arranged  that  nothing  may  be  seen 

or  heard  which  shall  jar  with  the  feelings  of  any  class  of  the 

^  Leaf  1,  iii.  '  Leaf  m,  iii. 


228  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 15  , 

worshippers — nothing  in  which  all  cannot  unite  (for  every  sect  i 
performs  its  own  peculiar  rites  in  private); — no  images^  so  that  ! 
every  one  may  represent  the  Deity  to  his  own  thoughts  in  his  j 
own  way;  no  forms  of  prayer,  but  such  as  every  one  may  use  ! 
without  prejudice  to  his  own  private  opinion; — a  service  so  i 
expressive  of  their  common  brotherhood  that  they  think  it  a  < 
great  impiety  to  enter  upon  it  with  a  consciousness  of  anger 
or  hatred  to  any  one,  without  having  first  purified  their  hearts  ; 
and  reconciled  every  difference;  incense  and  other  sweet  odours  j 
and  waxen  lights  burned,  not  from  any  notion  that  they  can  \ 
confer  any  benefit  on  God,  which  even  men's  prayers  cannot,  I 
but  because  they  are  useful  aids  to  the  worshippers ;  ^  the  men  j 
occupying  one  side  of  the  temple,  the  women  the  other,  and  all  | 
clothed  in  white;  the  whole  people  rising  as  the  priest  who  j 
conducts  the  worship  enters  the  temple  in  his  beautiful  vest-  | 
ments,  wonderfully  wrought  of  birds'  plumage,  to  join  in  hymns  ]j 
of  praise,  accompanied  by  music;  then  priest  and  people  \ 
uniting  in  solemn  prayer  to  God  in  a  set  form  of  words,  so  i 
composed  that  each  can  apply  its  meaning  to  himself,  offering  I 
thanks  for  the  blessings  which  surround  them,  for  the  happiness  ; 
of  their  commonwealth,  for  their  having  embraced  a  religious  ; 
persuasion  which  they  hope  is  the  most  true  one;  praying  that  \ 
if  they  are  mistaken  they  may  be  led  to  what  is  really  the  true  i 
one,  so  that  all  may  be  brought  to  unity  of  faith  and  practice,  \ 
unless  in  his  inscrutable  will  the  Almighty  should  otherwise  j 
ordain;  and  concluding  with  a  prayer  that,  as  soon  as  it  may  j 
please  Him,  He  may  take  them  to  Himself;  lastly,  this  prayer  | 
concluded,  the  whole  congregation  bowing  solemnly  to  the  j 
ground,  and  then  after  a  short  pause,  separating  to  spend  the  ' 
remainder  of  the  day  in  innocent  amusement — this  was  More's  j 
ideal  of  public  worship !  ^  | 

Such  was  the  second  book  of  the  Utopia,  probably  written  ' 
by  More  whilst  on  the  embassy,  towards  the  close  of  151 5,  or  : 
soon  after  his  return.    Well  might  he  conclude  with  the  words,  ,; 
"  I  freely  confess  that  many  things  in  the  commonwealth  of 
Utopia  I  rather  wish  than  hope  to  see  adopted  in  our  own  /  " 

1  It  is  impossible  not  to  see  in  this  a  ritualism  rather  of  the  Dionysian 
/than  of  the  modem  sacerdotal  type. 

*  Utopia,  ist  ed.  "  De  Religionibus  Vtopiensium." 


I5I6]  Erasmus*  "  Christian  Prince "        229 


IV.    THE        INSTITUTIO   PRINCIPIS   CHRISTIANI        OF  ERASMUS 

(1516) 

Some  months  before  More  began  to  write  his  Utopia,  Erasmus 
had  commenced  a  Httle  treatise  with  a  very  similar  object.  In 
the  spring  of  151 5,  while  staying  with  More  in  London,  he  had 
mentioned,  in  a  letter  to  Cardinal  Grimanus  at  Rome,  that  he 
was  already  at  work  on  his  Institutes  of  the  Christian  Prince, 
designed  for  the  benefit  of  Prince  Charles,  into  whose  honorary 
service  he  had  recently  been  drawn. 

The  similarity  in  the  sentiments  expressed  in  this  little 
treatise  and  in  the  Utopia  would  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  they 
were  written  in  concert  by  the  two  friends,  as  their  imitations 
of  Lucian  had  been  under  similar  circumstances.  Political 
events  must  have  often  formed  the  topic  of  their  conversation 
when  together  in  the  spring;  and  the  connection  of  the  one 
with  the  Court  of  Henry  VIII.  and  the  other  with  that  of  Prince 
Charles,  would  be  likely  to  give  their  thoughts  a  practical 
direction.  Possibly  they  may  have  parted  with  the  under- 
standing that,  independently  of  each  other,  both  works  should 
be  written  on  the  common  subject,  and  expressing  their  common 
views.  Be  this  as  it  may,  while  More  went  on  his  embassy  to 
Flanders,  and  returned  to  write  his  Utopia,  Erasmus  went  to 
Basle  to  correct  the  proof-sheets  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum, 
and  to  finish  the  Institutio  Principis  Christiani. 

On  his  return  from  Basle  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year 
Erasmus  brought  his  manuscript  with  him,  and  left  it  under  the 
care  of  the  Chancellor  of  Prince  Charles,  to  be  printed  by  Thierry 
Martins,  the  printer  of  Louvain,  whilst  he  himseK  proceeded 
to  England.  Thus  it  was  being  printed  while  Erasmus  was  in 
England  in  August  15 16,  and  while  the  manuscript  of  the  second 
book  of  More's  Utopia  was  still  lying  unpublished,  waiting  until 
More  should  find  leisure  to  write  the  Introductory  Book  which 
he  was  intending  to  prefix  to  it. 

The  publication  by  Erasmus  of  the  Christian  Prince  so  soon 
after  the  Novum  Instrumentum  that  the  two  came  before  the 
public  together  was  not  without  its  significance.  It  gave  to 
the  public  expression  of  the  views  of  Erasmus  that  wideness  and 
completeness  of  range  which  More  had  given  to  his  views  by 
embracing  both  religious  and  political  subjects  in  his  as  yet 
unpublished  Utopia. 


230  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 16 

By  laying  hold  of  the  truth  that  the  laws  of  nature  and  Chris- 
tianity owe  their  origin  to  the  same  great  Founder,  More  had 
adopted  the  one  standpoint  from  which  alone,  in  the  long  run, 
the  Christian  in  an  age  of  rapid  progress  can  look  calmly  on  the 

discoveries  of  science  and  philosophy  without  fears  for  his  faith.  | 

He  had  trusted  his  bark  to  the  current,  because  he  was  sure  it  j 

must  lead  into  the  ocean  of  truth;  while  other  men,  for  lack  of  i 

that  faith,  were  hugging  the  shore,  mistaking  forsooth,  in  their  j 

idle  dreams,  the  shallow  bay  in  which  they  had  moored  their  | 

craft  for  the  fathomless  ocean  itself !    This  faith  of  More's  had  j 

been  shared  by  Colet — nay,  most  probably  More  had  caught  ^^ 

it  from  him.     It  was  Colet  who  had  been  the  first  of  the  little  ij 

group  of  Oxford  Reformers  to  proclaim  that  Christianity  had  j 

nothing  to  fear  from  the  "  new  learning  " — witness  his  school,  and  '\ 

the  tone  and  spirit  of  his  Oxford  lectures.     Erasmus,  too,  had  j 

shared  in  this  same  faith.     In  his  Novum  Instrumentum  he  had  1 

placed  Christianity,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  in  its  proper  place —  j 

at  the  head  of  the  advanced  thought  of  the  age.  ; 

But  More  had  gone  one  step  further.    The  man  who  believes  i 

that  Christianity  and  the  laws  of  nature  were  thus  framed  in  i 

perfect  harmony  by  the  same  Founder  must  have  faith  in  both.  \ 

As  he  will  not  shrink  from  accepting  the  results  of  science  and  | 

philosophy,  so  he  will  not  shrink,  on  the  other  hand,  from  carry-  i 

ing  out  Christianity  into  practice  in  every  department  of  social  j 

and  political  life.  I 

Accordingly  More  had  fearlessly  done  this  in  his   Utopia.  \ 

And  this  Colet  also  had  done  in  his  own  practical  way;  preaching  ;: 

Christian  politics  to  Henry  VIII.  and  Wolsey  from  his  pulpit  as  | 

occasion  required,  believing  Christianity  to  be  equally  of  force  j 

in  the  sphere  of  international  policy  as  within  the  walls  of  a  j 

cloister.    And  now,  in  the  Instiiutio  Principis  Christiani,  Eras-  ij 

mus  followed  in  the  same  track  for  the  special  benefit  of  Prince  !; 

Charles,  who,  then  sixteen  years  old,  had  succeeded,  on  the  death  :j 

of  Ferdinand  in  the  spring  of  1516,  to  the  crowns  of  Castile  and  \ 

Aragon,  as  well  as  to  the  kingdoms  of  Naples  and  Sicily  and  of  i 

the  island  of  Sardinia.  I 

The  full  significance  of  this  joint  action  of  the  three  friends  \ 

will  only  be  justly  appreciated  if  it  be  taken  into  account  that  \ 

probably,  at  the  very  moment  when  Erasmus  was  writing  his  ! 

Christian  Prince  and  More  his  Utopia,  the  as  yet  unpublished  i 

manuscript  of  The  Prince  of  Machiavelli  was  lying  in  the  study  of  j 

its  author.     The  semi-pagan  school  of  Italy  was  not  only  drifting  jj 
into  the  denial  of  Christianity  itself,  but  it  had  already  cast  aside 


i5i6]         Erasmus'  "Christian  Prince'*        231 

the  Christian  standard  of  morals  as  one  which  would  not  work 
in  practice  at  least  in  political  affairs.  The  Machiavellian  theory 
was  already  avowedly  accepted  and  acted  upon  in  international 
affairs  by  the  Pope  himself;  and  indeed,  as  I  have  said,  it  was 
not  a  theory  invented  by  Machiavelli;  what  that  great  philoso- 
pher had  achieved  was  rather  the  codification  of  the  current 
practice  and  traditions  of  the  age.^  A  revolution  had  to  be 
wrought  in  public  feeling  before  the  Christian  theory  of  politics 
could  be  estabhshed  in  place  of  the  one  then  in  the  ascendant — 
a  revolution  to  attempt  which  at  that  time  might  well  have 
seemed  like  a  forlorn  hope.  But  placed  as  the  Oxford  Reformers 
were,  so  close  to  the  ears  of  royalty,  in  a  position  which  gave 
them  some  influence  at  least  with  Henry  VIII.,  with  Prince 
Charles,  and  with  Leo  X.,  it  was  their  duty  to  do  what  they 
could.  And  possibly  it  may  have  been  in  some  measure  owing 
to  their  labours  that  a  century  later  Hugo  Grotius,  the  father 
of  the  modern  international  system,  was  able  in  the  name  of 
Europe  to  reject  the  Machiavellian  theory  as  one  that  would  not 
work,  and  to  adopt  in  its  place  the  Christian  theory  as  the  one 
which  was  sanctioned  by  the  laws  of  nature,  and  upon  which 
alone  it  was  safe  to  found  the  polity  of  the  civilised  world. ^ 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  notice  also  one  other  point  which 
may  be  said  to  turn  upon  this  perception  of  the  relation  of 
Christianity  to  the  laws  of  nature. 

To  the  man  who  does  not  recognise  the  harmony  between  them, 
religion  and  the  world  are  divorced,  as  it  were.  Religion  has 
no  place  in  politics  or  business,  and  scarcely  even  in  family  life. 
These  secular  matters  begin  to  be  considered  as  the  devil's 

^  "  There  is  certainly  a  steadiness  of  moral  principle  and  Christian 
endurance,  which  tells  us  that  it  is  better  not  to  exist  at  all  than  to  exist 
at  the  price  of  virtue;  but  few  indeed  of  the  countrymen  and  contempor- 
aries of  Machiavel  had  any  claim  to  the  practice,  whatever  they  might 
have  to  the  profession,  of  such  integrity.  His  crime  in  the  eyes  of  the 
world,  and  it  was  truly  a  crime,  was  to  have  cast  away  the  veil  of  hypocrisy, 
the  profession  of  a  religious  adherence  to  maxims  which  at  the  same  moment 
were  violated." — Hallam's  Literature  of  the  Middle  Ages,  chap.  vii.  s.  31. 

^  "  Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  long-disputed  question  as  to 
Machiavelli's  motives  in  writing,  his  work  certainly  presents  to  us  a  gloomy 
pictture  of  the  state  of  public  law  and  Eviropean  society  in  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century:  one  mass  of  dissimulation,  crime,  and  corruption, 
which  called  loudly  for  a  great  teacher  and  reformer  to  arise,  who  should 
speak  the  unambiguous  language  of  truth  and  justice  to  princes  and 
people,  and  stay  the  ravages  of  this  moral  pestilence. 

"  Such  a  teacher  and  reformer  was  Hugo  Grotius,  who  was  born  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  same  century  and  flourished  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth.  ...  He  was  one  of  those  powerful  minds  which  have  paid 
the  tribute  of  their  assent  to  the  truth  of  Christianity." — Wheaton's 
Elements  of  International  Law :  London,  1836,  pp.  18,  19. 


232  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 16 

concerns.  A  man  must  choose  whether  he  will  be  a  monk  or  man 
of  the  world,  or  still  more  often  he  tries  to  live  at  the  same  time 
two  separate  lives,  the  one  sacred,  the  other  secular,  trusting 
that  he  shall  be  able  to  atone  for  the  sins  of  the  one  by  the 
penances  and  devotions  of  the  other.  This  was  the  condition 
into  which  the  dogmatic  creed  of  the  Schoolmen  had,  in  fact, 
brought  its  adherents.  It  is  a  matter  of  notorious  history  that 
there  had  grown  up  this  vicious  severance  between  the  clergy 
and  the  laity,  and  between  things  religious  and  secular,  and  that 
in  consequence  religion  had  lost  its  practical  and  healthy  tone, 
while  worldly  affairs  were  avowedly  conducted  in  a  worldly 
spirit.  The  whole  machinery  of  confession,  indulgences,  and 
penances  bore  witness  as  well  to  the  completeness  of  the 
severance  as  to  the  hopelessness  of  any  reunion. 

But  to  the  man  who  does  recognise  in  the  laws  of  nature 
the  laws  of  the  Giver  of  the  golden  rule,  the  distinction 
between  things  religious  and  things  secular  begins  to  give 
way.  In  proportion  as  his  heart  becomes  Christian,  and  thus 
catches  the  spirit  of  the  golden  rule,  and  his  mind  becomes 
enlightened  and  begins  to  understand  the  laws  of  social  and 
political  economy,  in  that  proportion  does  his  religion  lose  its 
ascetic  and  sickly  character,  and  find  its  proper  sphere,  not  in 
the  fulfilment  of  a  routine  of  religious  observances,  but  in  the 
honest  discharge  of  the  daily  duties  which  belong  to  his  position 
in  life. 

The  position  assumed  by  Erasmus  in  these  respects  will  be 
best  learned  by  a  brief  examination  of  the  Institutes  oj  the 
Christian  Prifice. 

First  he  struck  at  the  root  of  the  notion  that  a  prince  having 
received  his  kingdom  jure  Divino  had  a  right  to  use  it  for  his  own 
selfish  ends.  He  laid  down  at  starting  the  proposition  that  the 
one  thing  which  a  **  prince  ought  to  keep  in  view  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  his  government  is  that  same  thing  which  a  people 
ought  to  keep  in  view  in  choosing  a  prince,  viz.  the  public  good.'' 

Christianity  in  his  view  was  as  obligatory  on  a  prince  as  on  a 
priest  or  monk.    Thus  he  wrote  to  Prince  Charles : 

''  As  often  as  it  comes  into  your  mind  that  you  are  a  prince, 
call  to  mind  also  that  you  are  a  Christian  prince." 

But  the  Christianity  he  spoke  of  was  a  very  different  thing 
from  what  it  was  thought  to  be  by  many.  ''  Do  not  think,"  he 
wrote,  "  that  Christianity  consists  in  ceremonies,  that  is,  in  the 
observance  of  the  decrees  and  constitutions  of  the  Church. 
The  Christian  is  not  he  who  is  baptised,  or  he  who  is  consecrated, 


isi6]         Erasmus'  "Christian  Prince"        233 

or  he  who  is  present  at  holy  rites ;  but  he  who  is  united  to  Christ 
in  closest  affection^  and  who  shows  it  by  his  holy  actions.  .  .  . 
Do  not  think  that  you  have  done  your  duty  to  Christ  when  you 
have  sent  a  fleet  against  the  Turks,  or  when  you  have  founded 
a  church  or  a  monastery.  There  is  no  duty  by  the  performance 
of  which  you  can  more  secure  the  favour  of  God  than  by  making 
yourself  a  prince  useful  to  the  people.''^ 

Having  taken  at  the  outset  this  healthy  and  practical  view 
of  the  relations  of  Christianity  to  the  conduct  of  a  prince,  Eras- 
mus proceeded  to  refer  everything  to  the  Christian  standard. 
Thus  he  continued: 

''  If  you  find  that  you  cannot  defend  your  kingdom,  without 
violating  justice,  without  shedding  much  human  blood,  with- 
out much  injury  to  religion,  rather  lay  it  down  and  retire 
from  it." 

But  he  was  not  to  retire  from  the  duties  of  his  kingdom  merely 
to  save  himself  from  trouble  or  danger.  "  If  you  cannot  defend 
the  interests  of  your  people  without  risk  to  your  life,  prefer 
the  public  good  even  to  your  own  life."  .  .  .  The  Christian 
prince  should  be  a  true  father  to  his  people. 

The  good  of  the  people  was  from  the  Christian  point  of  view 
to  override  everything  else,  even  royal  prerogatives. 

"  If  princes  were  perfect  in  every  virtue,  a  pure  and  simple 
monarchy  might  be  desirable;  but  as  this  can  hardly  ever  be  in 
actual  practice,  as  human  affairs  are  now,  a  limited  monarchy  ^ 
is  preferable,  one  in  which  the  aristocratic  and  democratic  ele- 
ments are  mixed  and  united,  and  so  balance  one  another."  ^ 
And  lest  Prince  Charles  should  kick  against  the  pricks,  and 
shrink  from  the  abridgment  of  his  autocratic  power,  Erasmus 
tells  him  that  "  if  a  prince  wish  well  to  the  republic,  his  power 
will  not  be  restrained,  but  aided  by  these  means." 

After  contrasting  the  position  of  the  pagan  and  Christian 
prince,  Erasmus  further  remarks : — 

"  He  who  wields  his  empire  as  becomes  a  Christian,  does  not 
part  with  his  right,  but  he  holds  it  in  a  different  way;  both  more 
gloriously  and  more  safely.  .  .  .  Those  are  not  your  subjects 
whom  you  force  to  obey  you,  for  it  is  consent  which  makes  a 
prince,  but  those  are  your  true  subjects  who  serve  you  volun- 
tarily. .  .  .  The  duties  between  a  prince  and  people  are  mutual. 
The  people  owe  you  taxes,  loyalty,  and  honour;  you  in  your 
turn  ought  to  be  to  the  people  a  good  and  watchful  prince.    If 

*  "  Monarchia  temperata  "  in  the  marginal  reading. 

*  Abridged  quotation. 


234  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516  i 

you  wish  to  levy  taxes  on  your  people  as  of  right,  take  care  that  i 
you  first  perform  your  part — first  in  the  discharge  of  your  duties  : 
pay  your  taxes  to  them."  i 

Proceeding  from  the  general  to  the  particular,  there  is  a  j 
separate  chapter,  "  De  Vectigalibus  et  Exactionibus/'  remark- 
able for  the  clear  expression  of  the  views  which  More  had  { 
advanced  in  his  Utopia,  and  which  the  Oxford  Reformers  held  \ 
in  common,  with  regard  to  the  unchristian  way  in  which  the  j 
interests  of  the  poor  were  too  often  sacrificed  and  lost  sight  of  in  \ 
the  levying  of  taxes.  The  great  aim  of  a  prince,  he  contended,  \ 
should  be  to  reduce  taxation  as  much  as  possible.  Rather  than  \ 
increase  it,  it  would  be  better,  he  wrote,  for  a  prince  to  reduce  \ 
his  unnecessary  expenditure,  to  dismiss  idle  ministers,  to  avoid  ^ 
wars  and  foreign  enterprises,  to  restrain  the  rapacity  of  ministers,  '; 
and  rather  to  study  the  right  administration  of  revenues  than  ' 
their  augmentation.  If  it  should  be  really  necessary  to  exact  ' 
something  from  the  people,  then,  he  maintained,  it  is  the  part 
of  a  good  prince  to  choose  such  ways  of  doing  so  as  should  cause  ; 
as  little  inconvenience  as  possible  to  those  of  slender  means.  It  j 
may  perhaps  be  expedient  to  call  upon  the  rich  to  be  frugal;  but  , 
to  reduce  the  poor  to  hunger  and  crime  would  be  both  most  j 
inhuman  and  also  hardly  safe.  ...  It  requires  care  also,  he  \ 
continued,  lest  the  inequality  of  property  should  be  too  great,  j 
"  Not  that  I  would  wish  to  take  away  any  property  from  any  one  \ 
by  force,  but  that  means  should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  wealth  j 
of  the  multitude  from  getting  into  few  hands."  i 

Erasmus  then  proceeded  to  inquire  what  mode  of  taxation  j 
would  prove  least  burdensome  to  the  people.  And  the  con-  \ 
elusion  he  came  to  was,  that  **  a  good  prince  will  burden  with  j 
as  few  taxes  as  possible  such  things  as  are  in  common  use  amongst  i 
the  lowest  classes,  such  things  as  corn,  bread,  beer,  wine,  clothes,  ' 
and  other  things  necessary  to  life.  Whereas  these  are  what  are  ' 
now  most  burdened,  and  that  in  more  than  one  way;  first  by  i 
heavy  taxes  which  are  farmed  out,  and  commonly  called  assizes  ;  J 
then  by  customs,  which  again  are  farmed  out  in  the  same  way;  j 
lastly  by  monopolies,  from  which  little  revenue  comes  to  the  I 
prince,  while  the  poor  are  mulcted  with  great  charges.  There-  !' 
fore  it  would  be  best,  as  I  have  said,  that  a  prince  should  increase  * 
his  revenue  by  contracting  his  expenditure;  .  .  .  and  if  he  ; 
cannot  avoid  taxing  something,  and  the  affairs  of  the  people  j 
require  it,  let  those  foreign  products  be  taxed  which  minister  ! 
not  so  much  to  the  necessities  of  life  as  to  luxury  and  pleasure,  f 
and  which  are  used  only  by  the  rich  ;  as,  for  instance^  fine  linen,  J 


i5i6]  Erasmus'  "  Christian  Prince  "        235 

silk,  purple,  pepper,  spices,  ointments,  gems,  and  whatever  else 
is  of  that  kind." 

Erasmus  wound  up  this  chapter  on  taxation  by  applying  the 
principles  of  common  honesty  to  the  question  of  coinage,  in  con- 
nection with  which  many  iniquities  were  perpetrated  by  princes 
in  the  sixteenth  century. 

"  Finally,  in  coining  money  a  good  prince  will  maintain  that 
good  faith  which  he  owes  to  both  God  and  man,  ...  in  which 
matter  there  are  four  ways  in  which  the  people  are  wont  to  be 
plundered,  as  v/e  saw  some  time  ago  after  the  death  of  Charles, 
when  a  long  anarchy  more  hurtful  than  any  tyranny  afflicted 
your  dominions.  First  the  metal  of  the  coins  is  deteriorated 
by  mixture  with  alloys,  next  its  weight  is  lessened,  then  it  is 
diminished  by  clipping,  and  lastly  its  nominal  value  is  increased 
or  lowered  whenever  such  a  process  would  be  likely  to  suit  the 
exchequer  of  the  prince."  ^ 

In  the  chapter  on  the  "  Making  and  Amending  of  Laws," 
Erasmus  in  the  same  way  fixes  upon  some  of  the  points  which 
are  so  prominently  mentioned  in  the  Utopia. 

Thus  he  urges  that  the  greatest  attention  should  be  paid,  not 
to  the  punishment  of  crimes  when  committed,  but  to  the  pre- 
vention of  the  commission  of  crimes  worthy  of  punishment. 
Again,  there  is  a  paragraph  in  which  it  is  urged  that  just  as  a 
wise  surgeon  does  not  proceed  to  amputation  except  as  a  last 
resort,  so  all  remedies  should  be  tried  before  capital  punishment 
is  resorted  to.    This  was  one  of  the  points  urged  by  More. 

Thus  also  in  speaking  of  the  removal  of  occasions  and  causes 
of  crime,  he  urged,  just  as  More  had  done,  that  idle  people  should 
either  be  set  to  work  or  banished  from  the  realm.  The  number 
of  priests  and  monasteries  should  be  kept  in  moderation.  Other 
idle  classes — especially  soldiers — should  not  be  allowed.  As  to 
the  nobility,  he  would  not,  he  said,  detract  from  the  honour  of 
their  noble  birth,  if  their  character  were  noble  also.  "  But  if 
they  are  such  as  we  see  plenty  nowadays,  softened  by  ease, 
made  effeminate  by  pleasure,  unskilled  in  all  good  arts,  revellers, 
eager  sportsmen,  not  to  say  anything  worse ;  .  .  .  why  should 
this  race  of  men  be  preferred  to  shoemakers  or  husbandmen.?  " 
The  next  chapter  is  "  De  Magistratibus  et  Officiis,"  and  then 
follows  one,  "  De  Foederibus,"  in  which  Erasmus  takes  the  same 
ground  as  that  taken  by  More,  that  Christianity  itself  is  a  bond 
of  union  between  Christian  nations  which  ought  to  make  leagues 
unnecessary.  In  the  chapter  '*  De  Bello  suscipiendo"  he  ex- 
*  Charles  the  Bold  was  the  prince  alluded  to. 


236 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516 


pressed  his  well-known  hatred  of  war.  "  A  good  prince/'  he  ; 
said,  "  will  never  enter  upon  any  war  at  all  unless  after  trying  all  ' 
possible  means  it  cannot  be  avoided.  If  we  were  of  this  mind, 
scarcely  any  wars  would  ever  occur  between  any  nations.  ; 
Lastly,  if  so  pestilential  a  thing  cannot  be  avoided,  it  should  be  ' 
the  next  care  of  a  prince  that  it  should  be  waged  with  as  little  " 
evil  as  possible  to  his  people,  and  as  little  expense  as  possible  of  : 
Christian  blood,  and  as  quickly  as  possible  brought  to  an  end."  j 
It  was  natural  that,  holding  as  he  did  in  common  with  Colet  and  I 
More  such  strong  views  against  war,  he  should  express  them  as  • 
strongly  in  this  little  treatise  as  he  had  already  done  elsewhere.  \ 
It  is  not  needful  here  to  follow  his  remarks  throughout.  It  ; 
would  involve  much  repetition.  But  it  may  be  interesting  to  i 
inquire  what  remedy  or  substitutes  for  war  he  proposed.  He  \ 
mentioned  two.  First,  the  reference  of  disputes  between  princes  j 
to  arbitrators;  second,  the  disposition  on  the  part  of  princes  j 
rather  to  concede  a  point  in  dispute  than  to  insist  upon  it  at  far  | 
greater  cost  than  the  thing  is  worth.  j 

He  concludes  this,  the  last  chapter  of  the  book,  with  a  personal  I 
appeal  to  Prince  Charles.  "  Christ  founded  a  bloodless  empire.  ! 
He  wished  it  always  to  be  bloodless.  He  delighted  to  call  him-  ! 
self  the  '  Prince  of  Peace.'  May  He  grant  likewise  that  by  your  \ 
good  offices  and  by  your  wisdom  there  may  be  a  cessation  at  last  ' 
from  the  maddest  of  wars.  The  remembrance  of  past  evils  will  i 
commend  peace  to  our  acceptance,  and  the  calamities  of  former  j 
times  redouble  the  honour  of  the  benefits  conferred  by  you  /  "  i 

This  was  the  Institutio  Principis  Christiani  of  Erasmus;  a  J 
work  written,  as  I  have  said,  while  More  was  writing  his  Utopia,  j 
but  printed  in  August  1516,  at  Lou  vain,  while  Erasmus  was  in  , 
England,  and  while  the  manuscript  of  the  Utopia  was  lying  | 
unpublished,  waiting  for  the  completion  of  More's  Introduction,  j 

V.    MORE  COMPLETES  HIS  "  UTOPIA  " — THE  INTRODUCTORY        \ 


BOOK  (1516) 


More's  Introduction  was  still  unwritten,  and  the  Utopia  thus  \ 
in  an  unfinished  state,  when  Erasmus  arrived  in  England  in  the  .i 
autumn  of  15 16.  Erasmus  seems  on  this  occasion  to  have  spent  ' 
more  time  with  Fisher  at  Rochester  than  with  More  in  London;  ] 
but  he  at  least  paid  the  latter  a  short  visit  on  his  way  to  j 
Rochester,^  and  repeated  it  before  leaving  England.    The  latter  j 

^  On  August  5  he  seems  to  have  been  in  London,  and  to  have  written  ,/ 
a  letter  from  thence  to  Leo  X.     On  August  17  he  wTites  from  Rochester  p 


i5i6]  Introduction  to  "  Utopia  '*  237 

visit  seems  also  to  have  been  more  than  a  flying  one^  for  we  find 
him  writing  to  Ammonius,  that  he  might  possibly  stay  a  few- 
days  longer  in  England^  were  he  not  "  afraid  of  making  himself 
a  stale  guest  to  More's  wife."  Encouraged  as  More  doubtless 
was  by  Erasmus,  and  spurred  on  by  the  knowledge  that  the 
Institutio  Principis  Christiani  was  already  in  the  press,  he  still 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  able  to  find  time  to  complete  his 
manuscript  before  Erasmus  left  England.  Probably,  however, 
it  was  arranged  between  them  that  it  should  be  completed  and 
printed  with  as  little  delay  as  possible  at  the  same  press  and  in 
the  same  t5^e  and  form  as  Erasmus's  work. 

The  manuscript  was  accordingly  sent  after  Erasmus  in 
October,  and  by  him  and  Peter  Giles  at  once  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Thierry  Martins  for  publication  at  Lou  vain. 

This  long  delay  in  the  completion  of  the  Utopia  had  been 
caused  by  a  concurrence  of  circumstances.  More  had  been 
closely  occupied  by  public  matters,  in  addition  to  his  judicial 
duties  in  the  city,  and  a  large  private  practice  at  the  bar — a 
combination  of  pressing  engagements  likely  to  leave  him  but 
little  leisure  for  literary  purposes.  Even  when  the  daily  routine 
of  public  labours  was  completed,  there  were  domestic  duties 
which  it  was  not  in  his  nature  to  neglect.  He  was  passionately 
fond  of  his  home,  and  "  reckoned  the  enjoyment  of  his  family  a 
necessary  part  of  the  business  of  the  man  who  does  not  wish  to 
be  a  stranger  in  his  own  house."  ^ 

Nor  did  the  Utopia  itself  suffer  from  the  delay  in  its  publica- 
tion. Instead  of  losing  its  freshness  it  gained  in  interest  and 
point;  for,  as  it  happened,  the  introductory  book  was  written 
under  circumstances  which  gave  it  a  peculiar  value  which  it  could 
not  otherwise  have  had. 

On  More's  return  to  England  from  his  foreign  mission,  he  had 
been  obliged  to  throw  himself  again  into  the  vortex  of  public 
business.  The  singular  discretion  and  ability  displayed  by  him 
in  the  conduct  of  the  delicate  negotiations  entrusted  to  his  charge 
on  this  and  another  occasion,  had  induced  Henry  VIH.  to  try  to 
attach  him  to  his  court. 

Hitherto  he  had  acted  more  on  behalf  of  ^^ 
than  directly  for  the  KingT^lTovTWoEeywasor^e^       retain 
him  in  the  King's  service.    More  was  unwilling,  however,  to 
accede  to  the  proposal,  and  made  excuses.    Wolsey,  thinking  no 

to  Aramonius,  that  he  is  spending  ten  days  there.    And  again  on  August  22. 
On  the  31st  he  writes  to  Boville  from  the  same  place. 
^  Letter  from  More  to  Peter  Giles,  prefixed  to  Utopia. 


238 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 16 


doubt  that  he  shrank  from  relinquishing  the  emoluments  of  his 
position  as  under-sheriff^  and  the  income  arising  from  his  practice 
at  the  bar,  offered  him  a  pension,  and  suggested  that  the  King 
could  not,  consistently  with  his  honour,  offer  him  less  than  the 
income  he  would  rehnquish  by  entering  his  service.  More  wrote 
to  Erasmus  that  he  had  declined  the  pension,  and  thought  he 
should  continue  to  do  so;  he  preferred,  he  said,  his  present 
judicial  position  to  a  higher  one,  and  was  afraid  that  were  he 
to  accept  a  pension  without  relinquishing  it,  his  fellow-citizens 
would  lose  their  confidence  in  his  impartiality  in  case  any 
questions  were  to  arise,  as  they  sometimes  did,  between  them 
and  the  Crown.  The  fact  that  he  was  indebted  to  the  King  for 
his  pension  might  make  them  think  him  a  little  the  less  true  to 
their  cause.  Wolsey  reported  More's  refusal  to  the  King,  who 
it  seems  honourably  declined  to  press  him  further  at  present. 
Such,  however,  was  More's  popularity  in  the  city,  and  the  rising 
estimation  in  which  he  was  held,  that  it  was  evident  the  King 
would  not  rest  until  he  had  drawn  him  into  his  service — yes, 
"  dragged,''  exclaims  Erasmus,  "  for  no  one  ever  tried  harder  to 
get  admitted  to  court  than  he  did  to  keep  out  of  it." 

As  the  months  of  15 16  went  by.  More,  feeling  that  his  entry 
into  Royal  service  was  only  a  question  of  time,  determined,  it 
would  seem,  to  take  the  opportunity,  while  as  yet  he  was  free  and 
unfettered,  to  insert  in  the  introduction  to  his  unfinished  Utopia 
still  more  pointed  allusion  to  one  or  two  matters  relating  to  the 
social  condition  of  the  country  and  the  policy  of  Henry  VIII. ; 
also  at  the  same  time  to  make  some  public  explanation  of  his 
reluctance  to  enter  the  service  of  his  sovereign. 

The  prefatory  book  which  More  now  added  to  his  description 
of  the  commonwealth  of  Utopia  was  arranged  so  as  to  introduce 
the  latter  to  the  reader  in  a  way  likely  to  attract  his  interest, 
and  to  throw  an  air  of  reality  over  the  romance. 

More  related  how  he  had  been  sent  as  an  ambassador  to 
Flanders  in  company  with  Tunstal,  to  compose  some  important 
disputes  between  Henry  VIII.  and  Prince  Charles.  They  met 
the  Flemish  ambassadors  at  Bruges.  They  had  several  meetings 
without  coming  to  an  agreement.  While  the  others  went  back 
to  Brussels  to  consult  their  prince.  More  went  to  Antwerp  to  see 
his  friend  Peter  Giles.  One  day,  coming  from  mass,  he  saw  Giles 
talking  to  a  stranger — a  man  past  middle  age,  his  face  tanned, 
his  beard  long,  his  cloak  hanging  carelessly  about  him,  and 
wearing  altogether  the  aspect  of  a  seafaring  man. 

More  then  related  how  he  had  joined  in  the  conversation. 


i5i6]  Introduction  to  "  Utopia  "  239 

which  turned  upon  the  manners  and  habits  of  the  people  of  the 
new  lands  which  Raphael  (for  that  was  the  stranger's  name)  had 
visited  in  voyages  he  had  recently  taken  with  Vespucci.  After 
he  had  told  them  how  well  and  wisely  governed  were  some  of 
these  newly-found  peoples,  and  especially  the  Utopians,  and  here 
and  there  had  thrown  in  just  criticisms  on  the  defects  of  Euro- 
pean governments,  Giles  asked  the  question,  why,  with  all  his 
knowledge  and  judgment,  he  did  not  enter  into  Royal  service, 
in  which  his  great  experience  might  be  turned  to  so  good  an 
account  ?  Raphael  expressed  in  reply  his  unwillingness  to  enter 
into  Royal  servitude.  Giles  explained  that  he  did  not  mean  any 
servitude  at  all,  but  honourable  service,  in  which  he  might  confer 
great  public  benefits,  as  well  as  increase  his  own  happiness.  The 
other  replied  that  he  did  not  see  how  he  was  to  be  made  happier 
by  doing  what  would  be  so  entirely  against  his  inclinations.  Now 
he  was  free  to  do  as  he  liked,  and  he  suspected  very  few  courtiers 
could  say  the  same. 

Here  More  put  in  a  word,  and  urged  that  even  though  it  might 
be  against  the  grain  to  Raphael,  he  ought  not  to  throw  away  the 
great  influence  for  good  which  he  might  exert  by  entering  the 
council  of  some  great  prince.  Raphael  replied  that  his  friend 
More  was  doubly  mistaken.  His  talents  were  not  so  great  as  he 
supposed,  and  if  they  were,  his  sacrifice  of  rest  and  peace  would 
be  thrown  away.  It  would  do  no  good,  for  nearly  all  princes 
busy  themselves  far  more  in  military  affairs  (of  which,  he  said,  he 
neither  had,  nor  wished  to  have,  any  experience)  than  in  the 
good  arts  of  peace.  They  care  a  great  deal  more  how,  by  fair 
means  or  foul,  to  acquire  new  kingdoms,  than  how  to  govern  well 
those  which  they  have  already.  Besides, their  ministers  either  are, 
or  think  that  they  are,  too  wise  to  listen  to  any  new  counsellor; 
and,  if  they  ever  do  so,  it  is  only  to  attach  to  their  own  interest 
some  one  whom  they  see  to  be  rising  in  their  prince's  favour. 

After  this,  Raphael  having  made  a  remark  which  showed  that 
he  had  been  in  England,  the  conversation  turned  incidentally 
upon  English  affairs,  and  Raphael  proceeded  to  tell  how  once 
at  the  table  of  Cardinal  Morton  he  had  expressed  his  opinions 
freely  upon  the  social  evils  of  England.  He  had  on  this  occasion, 
he  said,  ventured  to  condemn  the  system  of  the  wholesale 
execution  of  thieves,  who  were  hanged  so  fast  that  there  were 
sometimes  twenty  on  a  gibbet.  The  severity  was  both  unjustly 
great,  and  also  ineffectual.  No  punishment,  however  severe, 
could  deter  those  from  robbing  who  can  find  no  other  means  of 
livelihood. 


240  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516 

Then  Raphael  is  made  to  allude  to  three  causes  why  the 
number  of  thieves  was  so  large : — 

ist.  There  are  numbers  of  wounded  and  disbanded  soldiers 
who  are  unable  to  resume  their  old  employments,  and  are  too  old 
to  learn  new  ones. 

2nd.  The  gentry  who  live  at  ease  out  of  the  labour  of  others, 
keep  around  them  so  great  a  number  of  idle  fellows  not  brought 
up  to  any  trade,  that  often,  from  the  death  of  their  lord  or  their 
own  illness,  numbers  of  these  idle  fellows  are  liable  to  be  throv/n 
upon  the  world  without  resources,  to  steal  or  starve.  Raphael 
then  is  made  to  ridicule  the  notion  that  it  is  needful  to  maintain 
this  idle  class,  as  some  argue,  in  order  to  keep  up  a  reserve  of 
men  ready  for  the  army,  and  still  more  severely  to  criticise  the 
notion  that  it  is  necessary  to  keep  a  standing  army  in  time  of 
peace.  France,  he  said,  had  found  to  her  cost  the  evil  of  keeping 
in  readiness  these  human  wild  beasts,  as  also  had  Rome,  Carthage, 
and  Syria,  in  ancient  times. 

3rd.  Raphael  pointed  out  as  another  cause  of  the  number 
of  thieves — an  evil  peculiar  to  England — the  rage  for  sheep- 
farming,  and  the  ejections  consequent  upon  it.  ''  For,"  he  said, 
"  when  some  greedy  and  insatiable  fellow,  the  pest  of  his  country, 
chooses  to  enclose  several  thousand  acres  of  contiguous  fields 
within  the  circle  of  one  sheepfold,  farmers  are  ejected  from  their 
holdings,  being  got  rid  of  either  by  fraud  or  force,  or  tired  out  by 
repeated  injuries  into  parting  with  their  property.  In  this  way 
it  comes  to  pass  that  these  poor  wretches,  men,  women,  husbands, 
wives,  orphans,  widows,  parents  with  little  children — households 
greater  in  number  than  in  wealth,  for  arable-farming  requires 
many  hands — all  these  emigrate  from  their  native  fields  without 
knowing  where  to  go.  Their  effects  are  not  worth  much  at  best; 
they  are  obliged  to  sell  them  for  almost  nothing  when  they  are 
forced  to  go.  And  the  produce  of  the  sale  being  spent,  as  it  soon 
must  be,  what  resource  then  is  left  to  them  but  either  to  steal, 
and  to  be  hanged,  justly  forsooth,  for  stealing,  or  to  wander  about 
and  beg.  If  they  do  the  latter,  they  are  thrown  into  prison  as 
idle  vagabonds  when  they  would  thankfully  work  if  only  some 
one  would  give  them  employment.  For  there  is  no  work  for 
husbandmen  when  there  is  no  arable-farming.  One  shepherd 
and  herdsman  will  suffice  for  a  pasture-farm,  which,  while  under 
tillage,  employed  many  hands.  Corn  has  in  the  meantime  been 
made  dearer  in  many  places  by  the  same  cause.  Wool,  too,  has 
risen  in  price,  owing  to  the  rot  amongst  the  sheep,  and  now  the 
little  clothmakers  are  unable  to  supply  themselves  with  it.    For 


1516]  Introduction  to  "  Utopia  "  241 

the  sheep  are  falling  into  few  and  powerful  hands ;  and  these,  if 
they  have  not  a  monopoly,  have  at  least  an  oligopoly,  and  can 
keep  up  the  price. 

''  Add  to  these  causes  the  increasing  luxury  and  extravagance 
of  the  upper  classes,  and  indeed  of  all  classes — the  tippling 
houses,  taverns,  brothels,  and  other  dens  of  iniquity,  wine  and 
beer  houses,  and  places  for  gambling.  Do  not  all  these,  after 
rapidly  exhausting  the  resources  of  their  devotees,  educate  them 
for  crime? 

''  Let  these  pernicious  plagues  be  rooted  out.  Enact  that 
those  who  destroy  agricultural  hamlets  or  towns  should  rebuild 
them,  or  give  them  up  to  those  who  will  do  so.  Restrain  these 
engrossings  of  the  rich,  and  the  license  of  exercising  what  is  in 
fact  a  monopoly.  Let  fewer  persons  be  bred  up  in  idleness. 
Let  tillage  farming  be  restored.  Let  the  woollen  manufacture 
be  introduced,  so  that  honest  employment  may  be  found  for 
those  whom  want  has  already  made  into  thieves,  or  who,  being 
now  vagabonds  or  idle  retainers,  will  become  thieves  ere  long. 
Surely  if  you  do  not  remedy  these  evils,  your  rigorous  execution 
of  justice  in  punishing  thieves  will  be  in  vain,  which  indeed  is 
more  specious  than  either  just  or  efficacious.  For  verily  if  you 
allow  your  people  to  be  badly  educated,  their  morals  corrupted 
from  childhood,  and  then,  when  they  are  men,  punish  them  for 
the  very  crimes  to  which  they  have  been  trained  from  childhood, 
what  is  this,  I  ask,  but  first  to  make  the  thieves  and  then  to 
punish  them?  "  ^ 

Raphael  then  went  on  to  show  that,  in  his  opinion,  it  was  both 
a  bad  and  a  mistaken  policy  to  inflict  the  same  punishment  in 
the  case  of  both  theft  and  murder,  such  a  practice  being  sure  to 
operate  as  an  encouragement  to  the  thief  to  commit  murder  to 
cover  his  crime,  and  suggested  that  hard  labour  on  public  works 
would  be  a  better  punishment  for  theft  than  hanging. 

After  Raphael  had  given  an  amusing  account  of  the  way  in 
which  these  suggestions  of  his  had  been  received  at  Cardinal 
Morton's  table.  More  repeated  his  regret  that  his  talents  could 
not  be  turned  to  practical  account  at  some  royal  court,  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind.  Thus  the  point  of  the  story  was  brought 
round  again  to  the  question  whether  Raphael  should  or  should 
not  attach  himself  to  some  royal  court — the  question  which 
Henry  VIII.  was  pressing  upon  More,  and  which  he  would  have 
finally  to  settle,  in  the  course  of  a  few  months,  one  way  or  the 
other.  It  is  obvious  that,  in  framing  Raphael's  reply  to  this 
*  These  extracts  are  somewhat  abridged  and  condensed. 


242  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516  j 

question,  More  intended  to  express  his  own  feelings,  and  to  do  j 
so  in  such  a  way  that  if,  after  the  publication  of  the  Utopia,  \ 
Henry  VIII.  were  still  to  press  him  into  his  service,  it  would  be  \ 
with  a  clear  understanding  of  his  strong  disapproval  of  the  King's  | 
most  cherished  schemes,  as  well  as  of  many  of  those  expedients  | 
which  would  be  likely  to  be  suggested  by  courtiers  as  the  best 
means  of  tiding  over  the  evils  which  must  of  necessity  be  entailed  ; 
upon  the  country  by  his  persistence  in  them.  \ 

Raphael,  in  his  reply,  puts  the  supposition  that  the  councillors  i 
were  proposing  schemes  of  international  intrigue,  with  a  view  to  i 
the  furtherance  of  the  King's  desires  for  the  ultimate  extension  ; 
of  his  empire : —  j 

What  if  Raphael  were  then  to  express  his  own  judgment  that  | 
this  policy  should  be  entirely  changed,  the  notion  of  extension  of  j 
empire  given  up,  that  the  kingdom  was  already  too  great  to  be  ; 
governed  by  one  man,  and  that  the  King  had  better  not  think  of  ^ 
adding  others  to  it?  What  if  he  were  to  put  the  case  of  the  | 
"  Achorians,"  neighbours  of  the  Utopians,  who  some  time  ago  1 
waged  war  to  obtain  possession  of  another  kingdom  to  which  ■ 
their  king  contended  that  he  was  entitled  by  descent  through  an  i 
ancient  marriage  alliance  [just  as  Henry  VIII.  had  claimed  ; 
France  as  his  very  true  patrimony  and  inheritance^  but  which  ■ 
people,  after  conquering  the  new  kingdom,  found  the  trouble  of  | 
keeping  it  a  constant  burden  [just  as  England  was  already  find-  ] 
ing  Henry's  recent  conquests  in  France],  involving  the  continu-  j 
ance  of  a  standing  army,  the  burden  of  taxes,  the  loss  of  their  j 
property,  the  shedding  of  their  blood  for  another's  glory,  the  \ 
destruction  of  domestic  peace,  the  corrupting  of  their  morals  by  j 
war,  the  nurture  of  the  lust  of  plunder  and  robbery,  till  murders  ■ 
became  more  and  more  audacious,  and  the  laws  were  treated  ' 
with  contempt?  What  if  Raphael  were  to  suggest  that  the  i 
example  of  these  Achorians  should  be  followed,  who  under  such  \ 
circumstances  refused  to  be  governed  by  half  a  king,  and  insisted  ■ 
that  their  king  should  choose  which  of  his  two  kingdoms  he  1 
would  govern,  and  give  up  the  other;  how,  Raphael  was  made  i 
to  ask,  would  such  counsel  be  received?  j 

And  further:  what  if  the  question  of  ways  and  means  were  j 
discussed  for  the  supply  of  the  royal  exchequer,  and  one  were  ] 
to  propose  tampering  with  the  currency;  a  second,  the  pretence  ; 
of  imminent  war  to  justify  war  taxes,  and  the  proclamation  of  ■ 
peace  as  soon  as  these  were  collected;  a  third,  the  exaction  of  j 
penalties  under  antiquated  and  obsolete  laws  which  have  long  ; 
been  forgotten,  and  thus  are  often  transgressed;  a  fourth,  the  j 


i5i6]  Introduction  to  "  Utopia  "  243 

prohibition  under  great  penalties  of  such  things  as  are  against 
public  interest,  and  then  the  granting  of  dispensations  and 
licences  for  large  sums  of  money;  a  fifth,  the  securing  of  the 
judges  on  the  side  of  the  royal  prerogative — "  What  if  here  again 
I  were  to  rise  "  [Raphael  is  made  to  say]  *'  and  contend  that  all 
these  counsels  were  dishonest  and  pernicious,  that  not  only  the 
king's  honour,  but  also  his  safety,  rests  more  upon  his  people's 
wealth  than  upon  his  own,  who  (I  might  go  on  to  show)  choose 
a  king  for  their  own  sake  and  not  for  his,  viz.  that  by  his  care 
and  labour  they  might  live  happily  and  secure  from  danger;  .  .  . 
that  if  a  king  should  fall  into  such  contempt  or  hatred  of  his 
people  that  he  cannot  secure  their  loyalty  without  resort  to 
threats,  exactions,  and  confiscations,  and  his  people's  impoverish- 
ment, he  had  better  abdicate  his  throne,  rather  than  attempt  by 
these  means  to  retain  the  name  without  the  glory  of  empire? 
.  .  .  What  if  I  were  to  advise  him  to  put  aside  his  sloth  and  his 
pride,  .  .  .  that  he  should  live  on  his  own  revenue,  that  he 
should  accommodate  his  expenditure  to  his  income,  that  he 
should  restrain  crime,  and  by  good  laws  prevent  it,  rather  than 
allow  it  to  increase  and  then  punish  it,  that  he  should  repeal 
obsolete  laws  instead  of  attempting  to  exact  their  penalties  ?  .  .  . 
If  I  were  to  make  such  suggestions  as  these  to  men  strongly 
inclined  to  contrary  views,  would  it  not  be  telling  idle  tales  to 
the  deaf?  "1 

Thus  was  Raphael  made  to  use  words  which  must  have  been 
understood  by  Henry  VIII.  himself,  when  he  read  them,  as 
intended  to  convey  to  a  great  extent  More's  own  reasons  for 
declining  to  accept  the  offer  which  Wolsey  had  been  commis- 
sioned to  make  to  him. 

The  introductory  story  was  then  brought  to  a  close  by  the 
conversation  being  made  again  to  turn  upon  the  laws  and 
customs  of  the  Utopians,  the  detailed  particulars  of  which,  at 
the  urgent  request  of  Giles  and  More,  Raphael  agreed  to  give 
after  the  three  had  dined  together.  A  woodcut  in  the  Basle 
edition,  probably  executed  by  Holbein,  represents  them  sitting 
on  a  bench  in  the  garden  behind  the  house,  under  the  shade  of 
the  trees,  listening  to  Raphael's  discourse,  of  which  the  second 
book  of  the  Utopia  proposed  to  give,  as  nearly  as  might  be,  a 
verbatim  report. 

With  this  bold  and  honest  introduction  the  Utopia  was 
published  at  Louvain  by  Thierry  Martins,  with  a  woodcut  pre- 
fixed, representing  the  island  of  Utopia,  and  with  an  imaginary 
^  These  extracts  are  somewhat  abridged  and  condensed. 


244  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516 

specimen  of  the  Utopian  language  and  characters.     It  was  in 
the  hands  of  the  public  by  the  beginning  of  the  new  year. 

Such  was  the  remarkable  political  romance,  which  from  its 
literary  interest  and  merit,  has  been  translated  into  almost  every 
modern  language — a  work  which,  viewed  in  its  close  relations  to 
the  history  of  the  times  in  which  it  was  written,  and  the  personal 
circumstances  of  its  author  when  he  wrote  it,  derives  still  greater 
interest  and  importance,  inasmuch  as  it  not  only  discloses  the 
visions  of  hope  and  progress  floating  before  the  eyes  of  the  Oxford 
Reformers,  but  also  embodies,  as  I  think  I  have  been  able  to 
show,  perhaps  one  of  the  boldest  declarations  of  a  political  creed 
ever  uttered  by  an  English  statesman  on  the  eve  of  his  entry  into 
a  king's  service.^ 

^  The  extracts  from  the  Utopia,  translations  of  which  are  given  in  this 
chapter,  have  in  all  cases  been  taken  from  the  first  edition  (Louvain,  1516), 
but  very  few  alterations  were  made  in  subsequent  editions.  The  first 
edition  was  published  in  December  15 16.  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Lupton 
for  the  suggestion  that  the  publication  of  some  letters  of  Vespucci  at 
Florence,  in  15 16,  may  have  suggested  More's  use  of  that  voyager's  name 
in  his  introductory  book. 

Erasmus  sent  it  to  Froben  of  Basle,  by  whom  a  corrected  edition  was 
published  in  March  151 8,  and  another  in  November  of  the  same  year. 


i5i6]  Colet  in  Retirement  245 


CHAPTER  XIII 

I.    WHAT    COLET    THOUGHT    OF    THE    "  NOVUM    INSTRUMENTUM  " 

(1516) 

Having  traced  the  progress  and  final  publication  of  these  works 
by  Erasmus  and  More^  the  inquiry  suggests  itself,  how  were 
they  received? 

And  first  it  may  naturally  be  asked,  What  did  Colet  think  of 
them,  especially  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum  ? 

An  early  copy  had  doubtless  been  sent  to  him,  and  with  the 
volume  itself,  it  would  seem,  came  a  letter  from  Erasmus,  prob- 
ably from  Antwerp,  by  the  hand  of  Peter  Meghen — "  Unoculus," 
as  his  friends  called  him.  In  this  letter  Erasmus  had  consulted 
him  about  his  future  plans.  After  the  labours  of  the  past,  and 
suffering  as  he  was  from  feeble  and  precarious  health,  he  had 
indulged,  it  would  seem,  in  the  expression  of  longings  that  he 
could  share  with  Colet  his  prospects  of  rest.  He  knew  how 
often  Colet  had  mentioned  the  wish  to  spend  his  old  age  in 
retirement  and  peace,  with  one  or  two  congenial  companions, 
such  as  Erasmus;  and  now,  just  escaped  from  his  monotonous 
labours  at  Basle,  he  was  for  the  moment  inclined  to  take  Colet 
at  his  word.  Still,  much  as  he  talked  of  rest,  his  mind  would 
not  stop  working.  Witness,  for  instance,  his  Institutio  Principis 
Christiani.  In  fact,  while  the  Novum  Instrumentum  and  the 
works  of  St.  Jerome  had  been  passing  through  the  press  the 
number  of  other  works  of  his  had  increased  rather  than  lessened. 
During  the  very  intervals  of  travel  he  was  sure  to  be  writing 
some  book.  On  his  way  to  Basle  he  had  written  his  letter  to 
Dorpius,  and  he  had  published  with  it  a  commentary  on  the 
first  Psalm,  Beatus  est  vir,  etc.,  which,  by  the  way,  he  had  dedi- 
cated to  his  gentle  friend,  Beatus  Rhenanus,  because,  said  he, 
"  blessed  is  the  man  who  is  such  as  the  Psalm  describes."  New 
editions,  also,  of  the  De  Copid,  of  the  Praise  of  Folly,  and  of  the 
Adagia,  were  constantly  being  issued  from  the  press  of  Froben, 
Martins,  Schurerius,  or  some  other  printer;  for  whatever  bore 
the  name  of  Erasmus  now  found  so  ready  a  sale,  that  printers 
were  anxious  for  his  patronage.  Visions,  too,  of  future  work 
kept  rising  up  before  him.     He  wanted  to  write  a  commentary 


246 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 16 


on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans;  and  in  writing  to  Colet  it  would 
seem  that  he  had  confided  to  him  his  project  of  adding  to  his 
Latin  version  of  the  New  Testament  an  honest  exposition  of  its 
meaning  in  the  form  of  a  simple  paraphrase — a  work  which 
took  him  years  to  complete.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  he  had 
mentioned  these  literary  projects  in  the  same  letter  in  which  he 
had  expressed  himself  as  envious  of  Colet's  anticipated  rest^  and 
that  freedom  from  the  cares  of  poverty  to  which  he  himself  was 
so  constantly  a  prey.  Doubtless  for  a  moment  it  had  seemed 
to  him  easier  to  wish  himself  in  Colet's  place  than  with  renewed 
energy  to  toil  on  in  his  own. 

But  every  heart  knoweth  its  own  bitterness.  Colet  had  his 
share  of  troubles,  which  made  him,  in  his  turn,  almost  envy 
Erasmus.  He  felt  as  keenly  as  Erasmus  and  More  did,  how  the 
mad  rush  of  princes  to  arms  had  blasted  the  happy  visions  of 
what  had  seemed  like  a  golden  age  approaching,  and  he  had 
been  the  first  to  speak  out  what  he  thought;  but  now,  while 
More  and  Erasmus  could  speak  boldly  and  get  Europe  to  listen 
to  what  they  had  to  say,  he  was  thwarted  and  harassed  by  his 
bishop,  and  obliged  to  crawl  into  retirement.  His  work  was 
almost  done.  He  could  not  use  his  pulpit  as  he  used  to  do.  He 
had  spent  his  patrimony  in  the  foundation  of  his  school,  and  he 
had  not  another  fortune  to  spend,  for  his  uncle's  quarrel  and 
other  demands  upon  the  residue  had  reduced  his  means  even 
below  his  wants.  Nor  had  he  much  of  bodily  strength  and 
energy  left.  The  sole  survivor  of  a  family  of  twenty-two,  his 
health  was  not  likely  to  be  robust,  and  now,  at  fifty,  he  spoke 
of  himself  as  growing  old,  and  alluded  with  admiration  to  the 
high  spirits  of  his  still  surviving  mother,  and  the  beauty  of  her 
happy  old  age. 

Still  Colet  had  his  heart  in  the  work  as  much  as  ever.  We 
do  not  hear  much  of  his  doings,  but  what  we  do  hear  is  all 
in  keeping  with  his  character.  Thus  we  find  him  incidentally 
exerting  himself  to  get  some  poor  prisoner  released  from  the 
royal  prison,  and  Erasmus  exclaiming,  ''  I  love  that  Christian 
spirit  of  Colet's,  for  I  hear  that  it  was  all  owing  to  him,  and  him 
alone,  that  N.  was  released,  notwithstanding  that  N.,  though 
always  treated  in  the  most  friendly  way  by  Colet,  and  professing 
himself  as  friendly  to  Colet,  had  sided  with  Colet's  enemies  at 
the  time  that  he  was  accused  by  the  calumnies  of  the  bishops." 

It  was  about  the  time  that  he  was  thus  returning  good  for  evil 
to  this  unfortunate  prisoner,  that  the  letter  of  Erasmus  and  the 
copy  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum  came  to  his  hands. 


i5i6]  Colet  to  Erasmus  247 

In  spite  of  his  own  troubles  he  could  hail  the  labours  and 
success  of  Erasmus  with  delight.  Twenty  years  ago,  while  alone 
and  single-handed,  he  had  longed  for  fellowship;  now  he  could 
rejoice  that  in  Erasmus  he  had  not  only  found  a  fellow-worker, 
but  a  successor  who  would  carry  on  the  work  much  further  than 
he  could  do.  He  had  looked  forward  with  eager  expectation 
to  the  appearance  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum,  and,  anticipating 
its  perusal,  had  for  months  past  been  working  hard  to  recover 
the  little  knowledge  of  Greek  which,  during  the  active  business 
of  life,  he  had  almost  lost.  And  the  more  he  felt  that  his  own 
work  was  drawing  to  a  close,  the  more  was  he  disposed  to  en- 
courage Erasmus  to  go  on  with  his.  He  looked  upon  Erasmus 
now  as  the  leader  of  the  little  band,  forgetting  that  Erasmus 
owed,  in  one  sense,  almost  everything  to  him. 

This  is  the  beautiful  letter  he  wrote  after  reading  the  Novum 
Instrumentum : — 

Colet  to  Erasmus 

"  You  cannot  easily  believe,  my  dear  Erasmus,  how  much 
joy  your  letter  gave  me,  which  was  brought  to  me  by  our  '  one- 
eyed  friend.'  For  I  learned  from  it  where  you  are  (which  I  did 
not  know  before),  and  also  that  you  are  likely  to  return  to  us, 
which  would  be  very  delightful  both  to  me  and  to  your  other 
friends,  of  whom  you  have  a  great  many  here. 

"  What  you  say  about  the  New  Testament  I  can  understand. 
The  volumes  of  your  new  edition  of  it  (the  Novum  Instrumentum) 
are  here  both  eagerly  bought  and  everywhere  read.  By  many, 
your  labours  are  received  with  approval  and  admiration.  There 
are  a  few,  also,  who  disapprove  and  carp  at  them,  saying  what 
was  said  in  the  letter  of  Martin  Dorpius  to  you.  But  these  are 
those  divines  whom  you  have  described  in  your  Praise  of  Folly 
and  elsewhere,  no  less  truly  than  wittily,  as  men  whose  praise  is 
blame,  and  by  whom  it  is  an  honour  to  be  censured. 

"  For  myself,  I  so  love  your  work,  and  so  clasp  to  my  heart 
this  new  edition  of  yours,  that  it  excites  mingled  feeHngs.  For 
at  one  time  I  am  seized  with  sorrow  that  I  have  not  that  know- 
ledge of  Greek,  without  which  one  is  good  for  nothing ;  at 
another  time  I  rejoice  in  that  light  which  you  have  shed  forth 
from  the  sun  of  your  genius. 

"  Indeed,  Erasmus,  I  marvel  at  the  fruitfulness  of  your  mind, 
in  the  conception,  production,  and  daily  completion  of  so  much, 
during  a  Hfe  so  unsettled,  and  without  the  assistance  of  any 
large  and  regular  income. 


248  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516  j 

"  I  am  looking  out  for  your  '  Jerome/  who  will  owe  much  j 
to  you,  and  so  shall  we  also  when  able  to  read  him  with  your 
corrections  and  explanations.  \ 

"  You  have  done  well  to  write  De  Institutione  Principis  \ 
Christiani.  I  wish  Christian  princes  would  follow  good  in- 1 
stitutes !  By  their  madness  everything  is  thrown  into  con-  \ 
fusion.  ...  ; 

"As  to  the  '  peaceful  resting-place '  which  you  say  you  long  \ 
for,  I  also  wish  for  one  for  you,  both  peaceful  and  happy;  both  : 
your  age  and  your  studies  require  it.  I  wish,  too,  that  this  i 
your  final  resting-place  may  be  with  us,  if  you  think  us  worthy  ^ 
of  so  great  a  man;  but  what  we  are  you  have  often  experienced.  \ 
Still  you  have  here  some  who  love  you  exceedingly.  ; 

"  Our  friend,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  when  I  was  with  ! 
him  a  few  days  ago,  spoke  much  of  you,  and  desired  your  pres-  ; 
ence  here  very  much.  Freed  from  all  business  cares,  he  lives  J 
now  in  quiet  retirement.  ^ 

"  What  you  say  about  '  Christian  philosophising '  is  true.  ; 
There  is  nobody,  I  think,  in  Christendom  more  fit  and  suited  j 
for  that  profession  and  work  than  you  are,  on  account  of  the  \ 
wide  range  of  your  knowledge.  You  do  not  say  so,  but  I  say  i 
so  because  I  think  so.  \ 

"  I  have  read  what  you  have  written  on  the  First  Psahn,  and  \ 
I  admire  your  eloquence.  I  want  to  know  what  you  are  going  I 
to  write  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  i 

"  Go  on,  Erasmus.  As  you  have  given  us  the  New  Testament  < 
in  Latin,  illustrate  it  by  your  expositions,  and  give  us  your  \ 
commentary  most  at  length  on  the  Gospels.  Your  length  is 
brevity;  the  appetite  increases  if  only  the  digestive  organs  are 
sound.  You  will  confer  a  great  boon  upon  those  who  delight 
to  read  your  writings  if  you  will  explain  the  meaning  [of  the 
Gospels],  which  no  one  can  do  better  than  you  can.  And  in  so 
doing,  you  will  make  your  name  immortal — immortal  did  I  say? 
— the  name  of  Erasmus  never  can  perish;  but  you  will  confer 
eternal  glory  on  your  name,  and,  toiling  on  in  the  name  of 
Jesus,  you  will  become  a  partaker  of  his  eternal  life. 

"  In  deploring  your  fortune  you  do  not  act  bravely.  In  so 
great  a  work — in  making  known  the  Scriptures — your  fortune 
cannot  fail  you.  Only  put  your  trust  in  God,  who  will  be  the 
first  to  help  you,  and  who  will  stir  up  others  to  aid  you  in 
your  sacred  labours. 

"  That  you  should  call  me  happy,  I  marvel!  If  you  speak  of 
fortune,  although  I  am  not  wholly  without  any,  yet  I  have  not 


i5i6]       The  "  Novum  Instrumentum  "        249 

much,  hardly  sufficient  for  my  expenses.  I  should  think 
myself  happy  if,  even  in  extreme  poverty,  I  had  a  thousandth 
part  of  that  learning  and  wisdom  which  you  have  got  without 
wealth,  and  which,  as  it  is  peculiar  to  yourself,  so  also  you  have 
a  way  of  imparting  it,  which  I  don't  know  how  to  describe, 
unless  I  call  it  that '  Erasmican  '  way  of  your  own. 

"  If  you  let  me,  I  will  become  your  disciple,  even  in  learning 
Greek,  notwithstanding  my  advanced  years  (being  almost  an  old 
man),  recollecting  that  Cato  learned  Greek  in  his  old  age,  and 
that  you  yourself,  of  equal  age  with  me,  are  studying  Hebrew. 

"  Love  me  as  ever;  and,  if  you  should  return  to  us,  count 
upon  my  devotion  to  your  service. — Farewell. 

"  From  the  country  at  Stepney,  with  my  mother,  who  still 
lives,  and  wears  her  advancing  age  beautifully;  often  happily 
and  joyfully  speaking  of  you.  On  the  Feast  of  the  Translation 
of  St.  Edward." 


IN   OTHER 
QUARTERS  (1516) 

Colet  was  not  alone  in  his  admiration  of  the  Novum  Instru- 
mentum and  its  author. 

William  Latimer,  of  Oxford,  one  of  the  earliest  Greek  scholars 
in  England,  expressed  his  ardent  approval  of  the  new  Latin 
translation,  and  would  have  been  glad,  he  said,  if  Erasmus 
had  gone  still  further,  and  translated  even  such  words  as 
"  sabbatum  "  and  the  like  into  classical  Latin. 

Warham  had  all  along  encouraged  Erasmus  in  his  labours, 
both  by  presents  of  money  and  constant  good  offices,  and  now 
he  recommended  the  Novum  Instrumentum  to  some  of  his 
brother  bishops  and  divines,  who,  he  wrote  to  Erasmus,  all 
acknowledged  that  the  work  was  worthy  of  the  labour  bestowed 
upon  it. 

Fox,  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  in  a  large  assembly  of  mag- 
nates, when  the  conversation  turned  on  Erasmus  and  his  works, 
declared  that  his  new  version  threw  so  much  light  on  the  New 
Testament,  that  it  was  worth  more  to  him  than  ten  commentaries, 
and  this  remark  was  approved  by  those  present.  The  Dean  of 
Salisbury  used  almost  the  same  words  of  commendation. 

In  fact,  it  would  appear  that  in  England  it  was  received 
coldly  only  by  that  class  of  pseudo-orthodox  divines,  now 
waning  both  in  numbers  and  influence,  who  had  consistently 
opposed    the   progress   of  the   new   learning,   '*  blasphemed " 


250  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516] 

Colet's  school,  and  censured  the  heretical  tendencies  of  Erasmus : 
as  soon  as  their  blind  eyes  had  been  opened  to  them  by  the  recent ; 
edition  of  the  Praise  of  Folly.  \ 

Thus  while  Erasmus  was  in  England  in  the  autumn,  enjoying : 
at  Rochester  the  hospitality  of  Bishop  Fisher,  who  was  Chan-i 
cellor  of  the  University  of  Cambridge,  he  was  informed  that  his ! 
Novum  Testamentitm  had  encountered  no  little  opposition  in; 
some  circles  at  that  centre  of  learning.  j 

In  one  of  his  letters  from  the  Bishop's  palace  to  his  friend  I 
Boville,  who  was  resident  at  Cambridge,  he  mentions  a  report; 
that  a  decree  had  been  formally  issued  in  one  of  the  colleges,^ 
forbidding  any  one  to  bring  "  that  book  "  within  the  precincts] 
of  the  college,  "by  horse  or  by  boat,  on  wheels  or  on  foot."  He; 
hardly  knew,  he  said,  whether  to  laugh  at  or  to  grieve  over  men , 
"so  studiously  blind  to  their  own  interests;  so  morose  andJ 
implacable,  harder  to  appease  even  than  wild  beasts!  How»i 
pitiful  for  men  to  condemn  and  revile  a  book  which  they  have  i 
not  even  read,  or,  having  read,  cannot  understand !  They  had ' 
possibly  heard  of  the  new  work  over  their  cups,  or  in  the  gossip ; 
of  the  market,  .  .  .  and  thereupon  exclaimed,  '  O  heavens !  O ; 
earth !  Erasmus  has  corrected  the  Gospels ! '  when  it  is  they  ■ 
themselves  who  have  depraved  them.  ...  i 

"Are  they  indeed  afraid,"  Erasmus  continued,  "lest  itj 
should  divert  their  scholars,  and  empty  their  lecture-rooms?? 
Why  do  they  not  examine  the  facts?  Scarcely  thirty  years  1 
ago,  nothing  was  taught  at  Cambridge  but  the  '  parva  logicalia  'I 
of  Alexander,  antiquated  exercises  from  Aristotle,  and  the] 
'  Quaestiones  'of  Scotus.  In  process  of  time  improved  studies  j 
were  added — mathematics,  a  new,  or,  at  all  events,  a  renovated  \ 
Aristotle,  and  a  knowledge  of  Greek  letters.  .  .  .  What  has  I 
been  the  result  of  all  this  ?  Now  the  University  is  so  flourishing,  j 
that  it  can  compete  with  the  best  universities  of  the  age.  Itj 
contains  men,  compared  with  whom,  theologians  of  the  old 
school  seem  only  the  ghosts  of  theologians.  These  men  grieve; 
because  more  and  more  students  study  with  more  and  more| 
earnestness  the  Gospels  and  the  apostolic  Epistles.  They  hadj 
rather  that  they  spent  all  their  time,  as  heretofore,  in  frivolous  j 
quibbles.  Hitherto  there  have  been  theologians  who  so  farj 
from  having  read  the  Scriptures,  had  never  read  even  the) 
Sentences,  or  touched  anything  beyond  the  collections  of  ques-^i 
tions.  Ought  not,"  exclaimed  Erasmus,  "  such  men  to  be| 
called  back  to  the  very  fountain-head?  "  He  then  told  Boville | 
that  he  wished  his  works  to  be  useful  to  all.    He  looked  to  J 


i5i6]  Philip  Melanchthon  251 

Christ  for  his  chief  reward ;  still  he  was  glad  to  have  the  approval 
of  wise  men.  He  hoped  too,  that  what  now  was  approved 
by  the  best  men,  would  ere  long  meet  with  general  approval. 
He  felt  sure  that  posterity  would  do  him  justice.^ 

Nor  was  the  opposition  to  the  Novum  Instrumentum  by  any 
means  confined  to  Cambridge.  A  few  weeks  later,  very  soon 
after  Erasmus  had  left  England — in  October — More  wrote  to 
inform  him  that  a  set  of  acute  men  had  determined  to  scrutinise 
closely,  and  criticise  remorselessly,  what  they  could  discover 
to  find  fault  with.  A  party  of  them,  with  a  Franciscan  divine 
at  their  head,  had  agreed  to  divide  the  works  of  Erasmus 
between  them,  and  to  pick  out  all  the  faults  they  could  find  as 
they  read  them.  But,  More  added,  he  had  heard  that  they 
had  already  given  up  the  project.  The  labour  of  reading  was 
more  laborious  and  less  productive  than  the  ordinary  work  of 
mendicants,  and  so  they  had  gone  back  again  to  that. 

The  work  was  indeed  full  of  small  errors  which  might  easily 
give  occasion  to  adverse  critics  to  exercise  their  talents.  But 
Erasmus  was  fully  conscious  of  this,  and  within  a  year  of  the 
completion  of  the  first  edition,  he  was  busily  at  work  making 
all  the  corrections  he  could,  with  a  view  to  a  second  edition. 

The  reception  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum  on  the  Continent 
was  much  the  same  as  in  England.  It  had  some  bitter  enemies, 
especially  at  Louvain  and  Cologne.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
letters  poured  in  upon  Erasmus  from  all  sides  of  warm  approval 
and  congratulation,  and  so  great  a  power  had  his  name  become, 
that  ere  long  princes  competed  for  his  residence  within  their 
dominions ;  and  if  their  numerous  promises  had  but  been  faith- 
fully performed,  Erasmus  need  have  had  little  fear  for  the 
future  respecting  "  ways  and  means." 

Amongst  the  numerous  tributes  of  admiration  received  by 
Erasmus,  was  one  forwarded  to  him  by  Beatus  Rhenanus,  in 
Greek  verse,  from  the  pen  of  an  accomplished  and  learned  youth 
at  the  University  of  Tubingen,  already  known  by  name  to 
Erasmus,  and  mentioned  with  honour  in  the  Novum  Instru- 
mentum— a  student  devoted  to  study,  and  reported  to  be 
working  so  hard,  that  his  health  was  in  danger  of  giving  way, 
whom  another  correspondent  introduced  as  worthy  of  the  love 
of  *'  Erasmus  the  first,"  inasmuch  as  he  was  likely  to  prove 
"  Erasmus  the  second."  His  name — then  little  known  beyond 
the  circle  of  his  intimate  friends — was  Philip  Melanchthon. 

^  The  above  is  only  an  abstract  of  this  letter,  and  some  of  the  quotations 
are  abridged. 


252  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516 


III.   MARTIN   LUTHER  READS   THE 

(1516) 

In  the  winter  of  1516-17,  Erasmus  received  a  letter  from 
George  Spalatin,  whose  name  he  may  have  heard  before,  but 
to  whom  he  was  personally  a  stranger.  It  was  dated  from  the 
castle  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  It  was  a  letter  full  of  flattering 
compliments.  The  writer  introduced  himself  as  acquainted 
with  a  friend  of  Erasmus,  and  as  being  a  pupil  of  one  of  his  old 
schoolfellows  at  Deventer.  He  mentioned  his  intimacy  with 
the  Elector,  whom  he  reported  to  be  a  diligent  and  admiring 
reader  of  the  works  of  Erasmus,  and  informed  him  that  these 
had  honourable  places  on  the  shelves  of  the  ducal  library.  It 
was,  in  fact,  a  letter  evidently  written  with  a  definite  object; 
but  beating  about  the  bush  so  long,  that  one  begins  to  wonder 
what  matter  of  importance  could  require  so  roundabout  an 
introduction. 

At  length  the  writer  disclosed  the  object  of  his  letter: — "  A 
friend  of  his,"  whose  name  he  did  not  give,  had  written  to  him 
suggesting  that  Erasmus  in  his  Annotations  on  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  in  the  Novum  Insirumentum,  had  misinterpreted 
St.  Paul's  expression,  justicia  operuin,  or  legis,  and  also  had  not 
spoken  out  clearly  respecting  "  original  sin."  He  believed  that 
if  Erasmus  would  read  St.  Augustine's  books  against  Pelagius, 
etc.,  he  would  see  his  mistake.  His  friend  interpreted  justicia 
legis,  or  the  "  righteousness  of  works,"  not  as  referring  only  to 
the  keeping  of  the  ceremonial  law,  but  to  the  observance  of  the 
whole  decalogue.  The  observance  of  the  latter  might  make 
a  Fabricius  or  a  Regulus,  but  without  Christian  faith  it  would 
no  more  savour  of  "  righteousness  "  than  a  medlar  would  taste 
like  a  fig.  This  was  the  weighty  question  upon  which  his  friend 
had  asked  him  to  consult  the  oracle,  and  a  response,  however 
short,  would  be  esteemed  a  most  gracious  favour. 

This  unnamed  friend  of  Spalatin  was  in  fact  Martin  Luther. 
The  singular  coincidence,  that  not  only  this  letter  of  Spalatin  to 
Erasmus,  but  also  the  letter  of  Luther  to  Spalatin,  have  been 
preserved,  enables  us  to  picture  the  monk  of  Wittemberg  sitting 
in  his  room  in  a  comer  of  the  monastery,  pondering  over  the 
pages  of  the  Novum  Insirumentum,  and  "  moved,"  as  he  reads 
it,  with  feelings  of  grief  and  disappointment,  because  his  quick 
eye  discerns  that  the  path  in  which  Erasmus  is  treading  points 
in  a  different  direction  from  his  own. 


I5I6J  Martin  Luther  253 

In  truth,  Luther,  though  as  yet  without  European  fame- 
not  having  yet  nailed  his  memorable  theses  to  the  Wittemberg 
church  door — had  for  years  past  fixed,  if  I  may  use  the  expres- 
sion, the  cardinal  points  of  his  theology.  He  had  already 
clenched  his  fundamental  convictions  with  too  firm  a  grasp 
ever  to  relax.  He  had  chosen  his  permanent  standpoint,  and 
for  years  had  made  it  the  centre  of  his  public  teaching  in  his 
professorial  chair  at  the  university,  and  in  his  pulpit  also. 

The  standpoint  which  he  had  so  firmly  taken  was  Augustinian, 

During  the  four  years  spent  by  him  in  the  Augustinian  monas- 
tery at  Erfurt,  into  which  he  had  fled  to  escape  from  the  terrors 
of  conscience,  he  had  deeply  studied,  along  with  the  Scriptures, 
the  works  of  St.  Augustine.  It  was  from  the  light  which  these 
works  had  shed  upon  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul  that  he  had  mainly 
been  led  to  embrace  those  views  upon  "  justification  by  faith  " 
which  had  calmed  the  tumult  and  disarmed  the  lightnings  of  his 
troubled  conscience.  This  statement  rests  upon  the  authority 
of  Melanchthon,  and  is  therefore  beyond  dispute. 

Eight  years  had  passed  since  he  had  left  Erfurt  to  become  a 
professor  in  the  Wittemberg  University,  and  four  or  five  years 
since  his  return  from  his  memorable  visit  to  Rome.  During 
these  last  years  his  teaching  and  preaching  had  been  full  of  the 
Augustinian  theology.  Melanchthon  states  that  during  this 
period  he  had  written  commentaries  on  the  "  Romans,"  and 
that  in  them  and  in  his  lectures  and  sermons  he  had  laboured  to 
refute  the  prevalent  error,  that  it  is  possible  to  merit  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins  by  good  works,  pointing  men  to  the  Lamb  of  God, 
and  throwing  great  light  upon  such  questions  as  "  penitence," 
"  remission  of  sins,"  "  faith,"  the  difference  between  the  "  Law  " 
and  the  "  Gospel,"  and  the  like.  He  also  mentions  that  Luther, 
catching  the  spirit  which  the  writings  of  Erasmus  had  diffused, 
had  taken  to  the  study  of  Greek  and  Hebrew. 

We  may  therefore  picture  the  Augustinian  monk — deeply 
read  in  the  works  of  St.  Augustine,  and,  as  Ranke  expresses  it,^ 
"  embracing  even  his  severer  views,''  having  for  years  constantly 
taught  them  from  his  pulpit  and  professorial  chair,  cHnging  to 
them  with  a  grasp  which  would  never  relax,  looking  at  everything 
from  this  immovable  Augustinian  standpoint  —  now  in  15 16 
with  a  copy  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum  before  him  on  his  table 
in  his  room  in  the  cloisters  of  Wittemberg,  reading  it  probably 
with  eager  expectation  of  finding  his  own  views  reflected  in  the 

*  Ranke  refers  to  the  period  before  1516.  See  Hist,  of  Reformation, 
vol.  i.  bk.  ii.  ch.  i.  ;t%k  i^w 


254  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1516 

writings  of  a  man  who  was  looked  upon  as  the  great  restorer  of 
Scriptural  theology. 

He  reads  the  Annotations  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 
He  does  not  find  Erasmus  using  the  watchwords  of  the  Augus- 
tinian  theology.  He  does  not  find  the  words  justicia  legis  under- 
stood in  the  Augustinian  sense,  as  referring  to  the  observance  of 
the  whole  moral  law,  but,  rather,  explained  as  referring  to  the 
Jewish  ceremonial. 

He  turns  as  a  kind  of  touchstone  to  Chapter  V.,  where  the  | 
Apostle  speaks  of  death  as  "  having  reigned  from  Adam  to  | 
Moses  over. those  who  had  not  sinned  after  the  similitude  of  'i 
Adam's  transgression."  He  finds  Erasmus  remarking  that  he  j 
does  not  think  it  needful  here  to  resort  to  the  doctrine  of  original  ; 
sin,  however  true  in  itself;  he  finds  him  hinting  at  the  possibility  j 
"  of  hating  Pelagius  more  than  enough,"  and  of  resorting  too  j 
freely  to  the  doctrine  of  "original  sin"  as  a  means  of  getting  j 
rid  of  theological  difficulties,  in  the  same  way  as  astrologers  i 
had  invented  a  system  of  epicycles  to  get  them  out  of  their  \ 
astronomical  ones.  j 

The  Augustinian  doctrine  of  "original  sin"  compared  to  j 
the  epicycles  of  the  astrologers!  No  wonder  that  Luther  \ 
was  moved  as  he  traced  in  these  Annotations  symptoms  of  < 
wide  divergence  from  his  own  Augustinian  views.  In  writing  j 
to  Spalatin,  he  told  him  that  he  was  "  moved;  "  and  in  \ 
asking  him  to  question  Erasmus  further  on  the  subject,  he  | 
added  that  he  felt  no  doubt  that  the  difference  in  opinion  ! 
between  himself  and  Erasmus  was  a  real  one,  because  that,  as  ; 
regards  the  interpretation  of  Scripture,  he  saw  clearly  that  Eras-  j 
mus  preferred  Jerome  to  Augustine  just  as  much  as  he  himself  j 
preferred  Augustine  to  Jerome.  Jerome,  evidently  on  principle,  I 
he  said,  follows  the  historical  sense,  and  he  very  much  feared  that  j 
the  great  authority  of  Erasmus  might  induce  many  to  attempt  | 
to  defend  that  literal,  i.e.  dead,  understanding  [of  the  Scriptures]  i 
of  which  the  commentaries  of  Lyra  and  almost  all  after  Augustine  j 
are  full.  j 

Still  Luther  went  on  with  the  study  of  his  Novum  Instrumen- 
tum,  and  we  find  him  writing  again  from  his  "  hermitage  "  at 
Wittemberg,  that  every  day  as  he  reads  he  loses  his  liking  for 
Erasmus.  And  again  the  reason  crops  out.  Erasmus,  with  all 
his  Greek  and  Hebrew,  is  lacking  in  Christian  wisdom;  "just  as 
Jerome,  with  all  his  knowledge  of  five  languages,  was  not  a  match 
for  Augustine  with  his  one."  ..."  The  judgment  of  a  man 
who  attributes  anything  to  the  human  will  "  [which  Jerome  and 

I 


i5i6]  Martin  Luther  255 

Erasmus  did]  is  "  one  thing,  the  judgment  of  him  who  recognises 
nothing  but  grace  "  [which  Augustine  and  Luther  did]  "  is  quite 
another  thing."  ..."  Nevertheless  [continues  Luther]  "  I 
carefully  keep  this  opinion  to  myself,  lest  I  should  play  into  the 
hands  of  his  enemies.  May  God  give  him  understanding  in  his 
own  good  time!  " 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  rights  of  the  question 
between  Luther  and  Erasmus.  It  is  well,  however,  that  by  the 
preservation  of  these  letters  the  fact  is  established  to  us,  which  as 
yet  was  unknown  to  Erasmus,  that  this  Augustinian  monk,  as  the 
result  of  hard-fought  mental  struggle,  had  years  before  this  irre- 
vocably adopted  and,  if  we  may  so  speak,  welded  into  his  very 
being  that  Augustinian  system  of  religious  convictions,  a  consi- 
derable portion  of  which  Erasmus  made  no  scruple  in  rejecting; 
that  at  the  root  of  their  religious  thought  there  was  a  divergence 
in  principle  which  must  widen  as  each  proceeded  on  his  separate 
path — unknown  as  yet,  let  me  repeat  it,  to  Erasmus,  but  already 
fully  recognised,  though  wisely  concealed,  by  Luther. 

IV.   THE   "  EPISTOL.E  OBSCURORUM  VIRORUM  "   (1516-17) 

In  the  meantime  symptoms  had  appeared  portending  that  a 
storm  was  brewing  in  another  quarter  against  Erasmus.  It 
was  not  perhaps  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  monks  should  persist 
in  regarding  him  as  a  renegade  monk.  His  bold  reply  to  the 
letter  of  Servatius,  and  the  unsubdued  tone  in  which  he  had 
answered  the  attack  of  Martin  Dorpius,  must  have  made  the 
monastic  party  hopeless  of  his  reconversion  to  orthodox  views. 
At  the  same  time,  neither  his  letter  to  Servatius  nor  his  reply 
to  Dorpius  had  at  all  converted  them  to  his  way  of  thinking. 
Men  perfectly  self-satisfied,  blindly  believing  in  the  sanctity  of 
their  own  order,  and  arrogating  to  themselves  a  monopoly  of 
orthodox  learning,  were  in  a  state  of  mind,  both  intellectually 
and  morally,  beyond  the  reach  of  argument,  however  earnest  and 
convincing.  They  still  really  did  believe,  through  thick  and  thin,, 
that  the  Latin  of  the  Vulgate  and  the  Schoolmen  was  the  sacred 
language.  They  still  did  believe  that  Hebrew  and  Greek  were 
the  languages  of  heretics ;  and  that  to  be  learned  in  these,  to  scoff 
at  the  Schoolmen  and  to  criticise  the  Vulgate,  were  the  surest 
proofs  of  ignorance  as  well  as  impiety. 

It  was  in  the  years  1516  and  151 7  that  the  Epistolce  Obscurorum 
Virorum  were  published.  They  were  written  in  exaggerated 
monkish  Latin,  and  professed  to  be  a  correspondence  chiefly 


256 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 16 


between  monks^  conveying  their  views  and  feelings  upon  current ', 
events  and  the  tendencies  of  modern  thought.  Of  course  the: 
picture  they  gave  was  a  caricature,  but  nevertheless  it  so  nearly  \ 
hit  the  truth  that  More  wrote  to  Erasmus  that  "  in  England  it  | 
delighted  every  one.  To  the  learned  it  was  capital  fun.  Even  r, 
the  ignorant,  who  seriously  took  it  all  in,  smiled  at  its  style,  and  J 
did  not  attempt  to  defend  it;  but  they  said  the  weighty  opinions  I 
it  contained  made  up  for  that,  and  under  a  rude  scabbard  was  i 
concealed  a  most  excellent  blade."  j 

The  first  part  was  full  of  the  monks'  hatred  of  Reuchlin  and  ) 
the  Jews.  One  monk  writes  to  his  superior  to  consult  him  in  a  \ 
difficulty.  Two  Jews  were  walking  in  the  town  in  a  dress  so  < 
like  that  of  monks  that  he  bowed  to  them  by  mistake.  To  have  ^ 
made  obeisance  to  a  Jew !  Was  this  a  venial  or  a  mortal  sin  ?  ] 
Should  he  seek  absolution  from  episcopal  authority,  or  would  it  i 
require  a  dispensation  from  the  Pope  ?  i 

Side  by  side  with  scrupulosity  such  as  this  were  hints  of  secret  ; 
immorality  and  scandal.  Immense  straining  at  gnats  was  put  ; 
in  contrast  with  the  ease  with  which  camels  were  swallowed  ' 
within  the  walls  of  the  cloister.  ; 

In  the  appendix  to  the  first  part  Erasmus  at  length  makes  ) 
his  appearance.  The  writer  of  the  letter,  a  medical  graduate,  i 
informs  this  learned  correspondent  that,  being  at  Strasburg,  he  j 
was  told  that  a  man  who  was  called  "  Erasmus  Roterdamus  "  J 
(till  then  unknown  to  him)  was  in  the  city — a  man  said  to  be  ) 
most  learned  in  all  branches  of  knowledge.  This,  however,  he  i 
did  not  beheve.  He  could  not  believe  that  so  small  a  man  could  j 
have  so  vast  a  knowledge.  To  test  the  matter,  he  laid  a  scheme  j 
with  one  or  two  others  to  meet  Erasmus  at  table,  get  him  into  an  '-. 
argument,  and  confute  him.  He  thereupon  betook  himself  to  \ 
his  "  vademecum,"  and  crammed  himself  with  some  abstruse  J 
medical  questions,  and  so  armed  entered  the  field.  One  of  his  | 
friends  was  a  lawyer,  the  other  a  speculative  divine.  They  1 
met  as  appointed.  All  were  silent.  Nobody  would  begin.  At  | 
length  Erasmus,  in  a  low  tone  of  voice,  began  to  sermonise  ^ 
(sermonizare),  and  when  he  had  done,  another  began  to  dispute 
de  ente  et  essencia.  To  which  the  writer  himself  responded  in  a  * 
few  words.  Then  a  dead  silence  again.  They  could  not  draw 
the  lion  out.  At  length  their  host  started  another  hare — praising  \ 
both  the  deeds  and  writings  of  Julius  Caesar.  The  writer  here  ; 
again  put  in.  He  knew  something  of  poetry,  and  did  not  • 
believe  that  Caesar's  Commentaries  were  written  by  Caesar  |j 
at  all.     Caesar  was  a  warrior,  and  always  engaged  in  military  | 


i5i6]      "  Epistolse  Obscurorum  Virorum  '*    257 

affairs.  Such  men  never  are  learned  men,  therefore  Caesar  can- 
not have  known  Latin.  "  I  think,"  he  continued,  "  that 
Suetonius  (!)  wrote  those  Commentaries,  because  I  never  saw 
any  one  whose  style  was  so  like  Caesar's  as  his.  When  I  had  said 
this,"  he  continued,  "  Erasmus  laughed,  and  said  nothing, 
because  the  subtlety  of  my  argument  had  confounded  him.  So 
I  put  an  end  to  the  discussion.  I  did  not  care  to  propound  my 
question  in  medicine,  because  I  knew  he  knew  nothing  about 
it,  since,  though  himself  a  poet,  he  did  not  know  how  to  solve 
my  argument  in  poetry.  And  I  assert  before  God  that  there 
is  not  as  much  in  him  as  people  say.  He  does  not  know  more 
than  other  men,  although  I  concede  that  in  poetry  he  knows 
how  to  speak  pretty  Latin.    But  what  of  that!  " 

In  the  second  part,  published  in  151 7,  Erasmus  makes  a  more 
prominent  figure.  One  correspondent  had  met  him  at  Basle,  and 
"  found  many  perverse  heretics  in  Froben's  house."  Another 
writes  that  he  hears  Erasmus  has  written  many  books,  especially 
a  letter  to  the  Pope,  in  which  he  commends  Reuchlin : — 

"  That  letter,  you  know,  I  have  seen.  One  other  book  of  his 
also  I  have  seen — a  great  book — entitled  Novum  Testamentum, 
and  he  has  sent  this  book  to  the  Pope,  and  I  believe  he  v/ants 
the  Pope's  authority  for  it,  but  I  hope  he  won't  give  it.  One 
holy  man  told  me  that  he  could  prove  that  Erasmus  was  a 
heretic;  because  he  censured  holy  doctors,  and  thought  nothing 
of  divines.  One  of  his  things,  called  Moria  Erasmi,  contained,'* 
he  said,  "  many  scandalous  propositions  and  open  blasphemies. 
On  this  account  the  book  would  be  burned  at  Paris.  Therefore 
I  do  not  believe  that  the  Pope  will  sanction  his  '  great  book.'  " 

Another  reports  that  his  edition  of  St.  Jerome  has  been 
examined  at  Cologne;  that  in  this  work  Erasmus  says  that 
Jerome  was  not  a  Cardinal;  that  he  thinks  evil  of  St.  George 
and  St.  Christopher,  the  relics  of  the  saints  and  candles,  and  the 
sacrament  of  confession ;  that  many  passages  contain  blasphemy 
against  the  holy  doctors. 

These  Episiolce  Obscurorum  Virorum  were  widely  read,  and 
proved  like  an  advertisement,  throughout  the  monasteries  of 
Europe,  of  the  heresy  of  Erasmus  and  his  hatred  of  monks.  As 
by  degrees  the  latter  began  to  understand  that  these  allusions 
to  Erasmus  were  intended  to  bring  ridicule  on  themselves,  in- 
stead of,  as  they  thought  at  first,  to  censure  Erasmus,  it  was 
likely  that  their  anger  should  know  no  bounds.^ 

^  One  of  the  best  and  most  valuable  essays  on  the  Epistolce  Obscurorum 
Virorum  will  be  found  in  No.  cv.  of  the  Edinburgh  Review,  March  1831. 

I 


258 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 17 


V.  THE       PYTHAGORICA       AND       CABALISTICA       OF  REUCHLIN 
(1517) 


Reuchlin  in  his  zeal  for  Hebrew  had  been  led  to  study  along  | 
with  the  old  Testament  Scriptures,  other  Hebrew  books,  espe-  j 
cially  the  Cabala,  and,  after  the  fashion  of  his  Jewish  teachers,  1 
had  lost  himself  in  the  "  mystical  value  of  words  "  and  in  the  \ 
Pythagorean  philosophy.  He  believed,  writes  Ranke,  that  by  | 
treading  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Cabala,  he  should  ascend  from  j 
symbol  to  symbol,  from  form  to  form,  till  he  should  reach  that  j 
last  and  purest  form  which  rules  the  empire  of  mind,  and  in  \ 
which  human  mutability  approaches  to  the  Immutable  and 
Divine  ^ — whatever  that  might  mean. 

Reuchlin  had  embodied  his  speculations  on  these  subjects  in 
a  work  upon  which  he  wished  for  the  opinion  of  Erasmus  and  his 
friends. 

Erasmus  accordingly  sent  a  copy  of  this  book  to  Bishop 
Fisher,  with  a  letter  asking  his  opinion  thereupon.  He  sent  it,  it 
seems,  by  More,  who,  more  suo,  as  Fisher  jokingly  complained, 
purloined  it,  so  that  it  did  not  reach  its  destination.  What  had 
become  of  it  may  be  learned  from  the  following  letter  from 
Colet  to  Erasmus,  playful  and  laconic  as  usual,  and  beaming 
with  that  true  humility  which  enabled  him  to  unite  with  his 
habitual  strength  of  conviction  an  equally  habitual  sense  of  his 
own  faUibility  and  imperfect  knowledge.  It  is  doubly  interest- 
ing also  as  the  last  letter  written  by  Colet  which  time  has 
spared. 


Colet  to  Erasmus 

"  I  am  half  angry  with  you,  Erasmus,  that  you  send  messages 
to  me  in  letters  to  others,  instead  of  writing  direct  to  myself;  for 
though  I  have  no  distrust  of  our  friendship,  yet  this  roundabout 
way  of  greeting  me  through  messages  in  other  people's  letters 
makes  me  jealous  lest  others  should  think  you  loved  me  less 
than  you  do. 

"  Also,  I  am  half  angry  with  you  for  another  thing — for  send- 
ing the  Cabalistica  of  Reuchlin  to  Bishop  Fisher  and  not  to 
me.  I  do  not  grudge  your  sending  him  a  copy,  but  you  might 
^  Ranke's  History  of  the  Reformation,  bk.  ii.  chap.  i. 


I5I7]  Reuchlin's  "  Cabalistica  "  259 

have  sent  me  one  also.  For  I  so  delight  in  your  love,  that  I 
am  jealous  when  I  see  you  more  mindful  of  others  than  of 
myself. 

"  That  book  did,  however,  after  all  come  into  my  hands  first. 
I  read  it  through  before  it  was  handed  to  the  bishop. 

"  I  dare  not  express  an  opinion  on  this  book.  I  am  conscious 
of  my  own  ignorance,  and  how  blind  I  am  in  matters  so 
mysterious,  and  in  the  works  (opibus — operibus  ?)  of  so  great  a 
man.  However,  in  reading  it,  the  chief  miracles  seemed  to  me 
to  lie  more  in  the  words  than  the  things ;  for,  according  to 
him,  Hebrew  words  seem  to  have  no  end  of  mystery  in  their 
characters  and  combinations. 

"  0  Erasmus!  of  books  and  of  knowledge  there  is  no  end. 
There  is  no  thing  better  for  us  in  this  short  life  than  to  live  holily 
and  purely,  and  to  make  it  our  daily  care  to  be  purified  and  en- 
lightened, and  really  to  practise  what  these  Pythagorica  and 
Cdbalistica  of  Reuchlin  promise;  but,  in  my  opinion,  there 
is  no  other  way  for  us  to  attain  this  than  by  the  earnest  love  and 
imitation  of  Jesus.  Wherefore  leaving  these  wandering  paths, 
let  us  go  the  short  way  to  work.  I  long,  to  the  best  of  my 
ability,  to  do  so.     Farewell. — From  London,  151 7." 


VI.   MORE   PAYS   A  VISIT  TO   COVENTRY  (1517?) 

It  chanced  about  this  time  that  More  had  occasion  to  go  to 
Coventry  to  see  a  sister  of  his  there. 

Coventry  was  a  very  nest  of  religious  and  monastic  establish- 
ments. It  contained,  shut  up  in  its  narrow  streets,  some  six 
thousand  souls.  On  the  high  ground  in  the  heart  of  the  city  the 
ancient  Monastery  and  Cathedral  Church  of  the  monks  of  St. 
Benedict  lifted  their  huge  piles  of  masonry  above  surrounding 
roofs.  By  their  side,  and  belonging  to  the  same  ancient  order, 
rose  into  the  air  like  a  rocket  the  beautiful  spire  of  St.  Michael's, 
lightly  poised  and  supported  by  its  four  flying  buttresses,  whilst 
in  the  niches  of  the  square  tower,  from  which  these  were  made  to 
spring,  stood  the  carved  images  of  saints,  worn  and  crumbled  by 
a  century's  storms  and  hot  suns.  There,  too,  almost  within  a 
stone's-throw  of  this  older  and  nobler  one,  and  as  if  faintly  striv- 
ing but  failing  to  outvie  it,  rose  the  rival  spires  of  Trinity  Church 
and  the  Church  of  the  Grey  Friars  of  St.  Francis;  while  in  the 
distance  might  be  seen  the  square  massive  tower  of  the  College 
of  Babbelake,  afterwards  called  the  Church  of  St.  John;   the 


2  6o  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 17 

Monastery  of  the  Carmelites  or  White  Friars;  and  the  Charter- 
house^ where  Carthusian  monks  were  supposed  to  keep  strict 
vigils  and  fasts  in  lonely  and  separate  cells.     And  beneath  the 
shadow  of  the  spire  of  St.  Michael's  stood  the  Hall  of  St.  Mary, 
chased  over  with  carved  work  depicting  the  glory  of  the  Virgin 
Mother,  and  covered  within  by  tapestry  representing  her  before 
the  Great  Throne  of  Heaven,  the  moon  under  her  feet,  and 
apostles  and  choirs  of  angels  doing  her  homage.     Other  hospitals 
and  religious  houses  which  have  left  no  trace  behind  them,  were 
to  be  found  within  the  walls  of  this  old  city.    Far  and  wide  had 
spread  the  fame  of  the  annual  processions  and  festivals,  pageants 
and  miracle  plays,  which  even  royal  guests  were  sometimes 
known  to  witness.     And  from  out  the  babble  and  confusion 
of  tongues  produced  by  the  close  proximity  of  so  many  rival  ] 
monastic  sects,  rose  ever  and  anon  the  cry  for  the  martyrdom  of  J 
honest  Lollards,  in  the  persecution  of  whom  the  Pharisees  and  ] 
Sadducees  of  Coventry  found  a  temporary  point  of  agreement.    It  J 
would  seem  that,  not  many  months  after  the  time  of  More's  visit,  ^ 
seven  poor  gospellers  were  burned  in  Coventry  for  teaching  their   : 
children  the  paternoster  and  ten  commandments  in  their  own  i 
English  tongue.^  J 

This  was  Coventry — its  citizens,  if  not  "  wholly  given  up  to  \ 
idolatry,"  yet  "  in  all  things  too  superstitious,"  and,  like  the 
Athenians  of  old,  prone  to  run  after  "  some  new  thing."    At  the 
time  of  which  we  speak,  they  were  the  subjects  of  a  strange 
religious  frenzy — a  fit  of  Mariolatry. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  had  not  yet  been  finally  settled.     It  was  the  bone  of  con- 
tention between  the  rival  monastic  orders.    The  Franciscans  or  | 
Grey  Friars,  following  Scotus,  waged  war  with  the  Dominicans, 
who  followed  Aquinas.     Pope  Sixtus  IV.  had  in  1483  issued  a 
bull  favouring  the  Franciscans  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception,  and  Foxe  tells  us  that  it  was  in  conse- 
quence "  holden  in  their  schools,  written  in  their  books,  preached  | 
in  their  sermons,  taught  in  their  churches,  and  set  forth  in  their  I 
pictures."     On  the  other  side  had  occurred  the  tragedy  of  the  | 
weeping  image  of  the  Virgin,  and  the  detection  and  burning  of  i 
the  Dominican  monks  who  were  parties  to  the  fraud.  : 

It  chanced  that  in  Coventry  a  Franciscan  mionk  made  bold  to 

preach  publicly  to  the  people,  that  whoever  should  daily  pray 

through  the  Psalter  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  could  never  he  damned. 

The  regular  pastor  of  the  place,  thinking  that  it  would  soon 

1  Foxe,  ed.  1597,  p.  887. 


1517]  Mariolatry  at  Coventry  261 

blow  over^  and  that  a  little  more  devotion  to  the  Virgin  could  do 
no  harm^  took  little  notice  of  it  at  first.  But  when  he  saw  the 
worst  men  were  the  most  religious  in  their  devotion  to  the 
Virgin's  Psalter,  and  that,  relying  on  the  friar's  doctrine,  they 
were  getting  more  and  more  bold  in  crime,  he  mildly  admonished 
the  people  from  his  pulpit  not  to  be  led  astray  by  this  new 
doctrine.  The  result  was  he  was  hissed  at,  derided,  and  publicly 
slandered  as  an  enemy  of  the  Virgin.  The  friar  again  mounted 
his  pulpit,  recounted  miraculous  stories  in  favour  of  his  creed, 
and  carried  the  people  away  with  him. 

More  shall  tell  the  rest  in  his  own  words : — 

"  While  this  frenzy  was  at  its  height,  it  so  happened  that  I 
had  to  go  to  Coventry  to  visit  a  sister  of  mine  there.  I  had 
scarcely  alighted  from  my  horse  when  I  was  asked  the  question, 
'  Whether  a  person  who  daily  prayed  through  the  Psalter  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  could  be  damned?  '  I  laughed  at  the  question 
as  absurd.  I  was  told  forthwith  that  my  answer  was  a  dangerous 
one.  A  most  holy  and  learned  father  had  declared  the  con- 
trary. I  put  by  the  whole  affair  as  no  business  of  mine.  Soon 
after  I  was  asked  to  supper.  I  promised,  and  went.  Lo  and 
behold!  in  came  an  old,  stooping,  heavy,  crabbed  friar!  A 
servant  followed  with  his  books.  I  saw  I  must  prepare  for  a 
brush.  We  sat  down,  and  lest  any  time  should  be  lost,  the 
point  was  at  once  brought  forward  by  our  host.  The  friar 
made  answer  as  he  already  had  preached.  I  held  my  tongue, 
not  liking  to  mix  myself  up  in  fruitless  and  provoking  disputa- 
tions. At  last  they  asked  me  what  view  I  took  of  it.  And 
when  I  was  obliged  to  speak,  I  spoke  what  I  thought,  but  in 
few  words  and  offhand.  Upon  this  the  friar  began  a  long  pre- 
meditated oration,  long  enough  for  at  least  two  sermons,  and 
bawled  all  supper  time.  He  drew  all  his  argument  from  the 
miracles,  which  he  poured  out  upon  us  in  numbers  enough  from 
the  '  Marial; '  and  then  from  other  books  of  the  same  kind,  which 
he  ordered  to  be  put  on  the  table,  he  drew  further  authority  for 
his  stories.  Soon  after  he  had  done  I  modestly  began  to  answer; 
first,  that  in  all  his  long  discourse  he  had  said  nothing  to  con- 
vince those  who  perchance  did  not  admit  the  miracles  which 
he  had  recited,  and  this  might  well  be,  and  a  man's  faith  in  Christ 
be  firm  notwithstanding.  And  even  if  these  were  mostly  true, 
they  proved  nothing  of  any  moment;  for  though  you  might 
easily  find  a  prince  who  would  concede  something  to  his  enemies 
at  the  entreaty  of  his  mother,  yet  never  was  there  one  so  foolish 
as  to  publish  a  law  which  should  provoke  daring  against  him  by 


262  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1517 

the  promise  of  impunity  to  all  traitors  who  should  perform 
certain  offices  to  his  mother. 

"  Much  having  been  said  on  both  sides,  I  found  that  he  was 
lauded  to  the  skies  while  I  was  laughed  at  as  a  fool.  The  matter 
came  at  last  to  that  pass,  by  the  depraved  zeal  of  men  who 
cloaked  their  own  vices  under  colour  of  piety,  that  the  opinion 
could  hardly  be  put  down,  though  the  Bishop  with  all  his 
energy  tried  all  the  means  in  his  power  to  do  so." 


I5I7]  The  Sale  of  Indulgences  263 


CHAPTER  XIV 

I.   THE   SALE   OF   INDULGENCES   (1517-18) 

While  Erasmus  in  151 7  was  hard  at  work  at  the  revision  of  his 
New  Testament,  publishing  the  first  instalment  of  his  Para- 
phrases,^ recommending  the  Utopia  and  the  Christian  Prince 
to  the  perusal  of  princes  and  their  courtiers,  expressing  to  his 
friends  at  the  Papal  Court  his  trust  that  under  Leo  X.  Rome 
herself  might  become  the  centre  of  peace  and  religion — ^while 
Erasmus  was  thus  working  on  hopefully,  preparing  the  way,  as 
he  thought,  for  a  peaceful  reform,  Europe  was  suddenly  brought, 
by  the  scandalous  conduct  of  princes  and  the  Pope,  to  the  very 
brink  of  revolution. 

Leo  X.  was  in  want  of  money.  He  had  no  scruple  to  tax  the 
Christian  world  for  selfish  family  purposes  any  more  than  his 
predecessors  in  the  Papal  chair;  but  times  had  altered,  and  he 
thought  it  prudent,  instead  of  doing  so  openly,  to  avoid  scandal, 
by  cloaking  his  crime  in  double  folds  of  imposture  and  decep- 
tion. It  mattered  little  that  a  few  shrewd  men  might  suspect 
the  dishonesty  of  the  pretexts  put  forth,  if  only  the  multitude 
could  be  suflEiciently  deluded  to  make  them  part  with  their  money. 

A  war  against  the  Turks  could  be  proposed  and  abandoned 
the  moment  the  "  tenths  "  demanded  to  pay  its  expenses  were 
safe  in  the  Papal  exchequer.  If  indulgences  were  granted  to  all 
who  should  contribute  towards  the  building  of  St.  Peter's  at 
Rome,  the  profits  could  easily  be  devoted  to  more  pressing  uses. 
So,  in  the  spring  of  15 17,  the  payment  of  a  tenth  was  demanded 
from  all  the  clergy  of  Europe,  and  commissions  were  at  the 
same  time  issued  for  the  sale  of  indulgences  to  the  laity.  Some 
opposition  was  to  be  expected  from  disaffected  princes;  but 
experience  on  former  occasions  had  proved  that  these  would  be 
easily  bribed  to  connive  at  any  exactions  from  their  subjects  by 
the  promise  of  a  share  in  the  spoil  .^ 

Hence  the  project  seemed  to  the  Papal  mind  justified  on 
Machiavellian  principles,  and,  judged  by  the  precedents  of  the 
past,  likely  to  succeed. 

1  On  the  Romans :  Louvain,  15 17,  at  the  press  of  Martins. 
*  Mountjoy  to  Wolsey:   Brewer,  ii.  p.  1259;   and  Bishop  of  Worcester  to 
Wolsey:  ibid.  No.  4179.     Ranke's  Hist,  of  the  Reformation,  bk.  ii.  chap.  i. 


264  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1517 

But  the  seeds  of  opposition  to  Machiavellian  projects  of  this 
kind  had  recently  been  widely  sown.  More  in  his  Utopia,  and 
Erasmus  in  his  Christian  Prince,  had  only  a  few  months  before 
spoken  plain  words  to  people  and  princes  on  taxation  and  un- 
just exactions.  Erasmus,  too,  in  his  Praise  of  Folly,  ha.d  spoken 
contemptuously  of  the  crime  0/ false  pardons,  in  other  words,  of 
Papal  indulgences.  And  though  Lystrius,  in  his  recent  marginal 
note  on  this  passage,  had  explained  that  Papal  indulgences  are 
not  included  in  this  sweeping  censure,  "  unless  they  be  false,  it 
being  no  part  of  our  business  to  dispute  of  the  pontifical  power," 
yet  he  had  almost  made  matters  worse  by  adding: — 

"  This  one  thing  I  know,  that  what  Christ  promised  concern- 
ing the  remission  of  sins  is  more  certain  than  what  is  promised 
by  men,  especially  since  this  whole  affair  [of  indulgences]  is  of 
recent  date  and  invention.  Finally  a  great  many  people,  relying 
on  these  pardons,  are  encouraged  in  crime,  and  never  think  of 
changing  their  lives." 

How  eagerly  the  Praise  of  Folly  was  bought  and  read  by  the 
people  has  already  been  seen.  New  editions  had  recently  been 
exceedingly  numerous,  for  the  notes  of  Lystrius  had  opened  the 
eyes  of  many  who  had  not  fully  caught  its  drift  before.  An 
edition  in  French  had  moreover  appeared,  and  (Erasmus  wrote) 
it  was  thereby  made  intelligible  even  to  monks,  who  hitherto  had 
been  too  deeply  drowned  in  sensual  indulgence  to  care  anything 
about  it,  whose  ignorance  of  Latin  was  such  that  they  could 
not  even  understand  the  Psalms,  which  they  were  constantly 
mumbling  over  in  a  senseless  routine. 

Silently  and  unseen  the  leaven  had  been  working;  and  when, 
on  October  31,  Luther  posted  up  his  theses  on  the  church-door 
at  Wittemberg,  defying  Tetzel  and  his  wicked  trade,  he  was 
but  the  spokesman,  perhaps  unconsciously  to  himself,  of  the 
grumbling  dissent  of  Europe. 

Discontent  against  the  proceedings  of  the  Papal  Court  was 
not  by  any  means  confined  to  Wittemberg.  It  had  got  wind 
that  the  tenths  and  indulgences  were  resorted  to  for  private 
family  purposes  of  the  Pope's;  that  they  were  part  of  a  system 
of  imposture  and  deception;  and  hence  they  encountered 
opposition,  political  as  well  as  religious,  in  more  quarters  than 
one. 

Unhappily,  the  Pope  had  reckoned  with  reason  on  the  con- 
nivance of  princes.  Their  exchequers  were  more  than  usually 
empty,  and  they  had  proved  for  the  most  part  glad  enough  to 
sell  their  consciences,  and  the  interests  of  their  subjects,  at 


I5I7]  The  Sale  of  Indulgences  265 

the  price  of  a  share  in  the  spoil.  Had  it  been  otherwise  the 
Papal  collectors  would  have  been  forbidden  entrance  into  the 
dominions  of  many  a  prince  besides  Frederic  of  Saxony!  The 
Pope  offered  Henry  VIII.  a  fourth  of  the  moneys  received  from 
the  sale  of  indulgences  in  England,  and  the  English  Ambassador 
suggested  that  one-third  would  be  a  reasonable  proportion. 
When  in  December  1515  the  Pope  had  asked  for  a  tenth  from 
the  English  clergy,  he  had  found  it  needful  to  abate  his  demand 
by  one-half,  and  even  this  was  refused  by  Convocation  on  the 
ground  that  they  had  already  paid  six-tenths  to  enable  the 
King  to  defend  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter,  and  that  the  victories 
of  Henry  VIII.  had  removed  all  dangers  from  the  Roman  See; 
and  no  sooner  was  there  any  talk  of  the  new  tenth  of  151 7, 
than  the  Papal  collector  in  England  was  immediately  sworn, 
probably  as  a  precautionary  measure,  not  to  send  any  money 
to  Rome,  Prince  Charles,  in  anticipation  of  the  amount  to  be 
collected  in  his  Spanish  dominions,  obtained  a  loan  of  175,000 
ducats.  The  King  of  France  made  a  purse  for  himself  out  of 
the  collections  in  France,  and  by  the  Pope's  express  orders  paid 
over  a  part  of  what  was  left  direct  to  the  Pope's  nephew  Lorenzo, 
for  whom  it  was  rumoured  in  select  circles  that  the  money  was 
required.  The  Elector  of  Maintz  also  received  a  share  of  the 
spoil  taken  from  his  subjects.  The  Emperor  had  made  common 
cause  with  the  Pope,  in  hopes  of  attaining  thereby  the  realisation 
of  long-indulged  dreams  of  ambition,  and  all  Europe  would 
have  been  thus  bought  over,  had  not  the  princes  of  the  empire 
unexpectedly  refused  to  follow  his  leading,  and  to  grant  any 
taxes  on  their  subjects  without  their  consent. 

These  facts  will  be  sufficient  to  show  that  the  question  of 
Papal  taxation  was  becoming  a  serious  political  question.  The 
ascendency  of  ecclesiastics  in  the  courts  of  princes  had,  more- 
over, again  and  again  been  the  subject  of  complaint  on  the  part 
of  the  Oxford  Reformers.  These  Papal  scandals  revealed  a 
state  not  only  of  ecclesiastical  but  also  of  political  rottenness 
surpassing  anjrthing  which  had  yet  been  seen.  Church  and 
State,  the  Pope  and  the  Emperor,  princes  and  their  ecclesiastical 
advisers,  were  seen  wedded  in  an  unholy  alliance  against  the 
rights  of  the  people.  Ecclesiastical  influence,  and  the  practice 
of  Machiavellian  principles,  had  brought  Christendom  into  a 
condition  of  anarchy  in  which  every  man's  hand  was  against 
his  neighbour.  The  politics  of  Europe  were  in  greater  confusion 
than  ever.  Not  only  was  the  Emperor  in  league  with  the  Pope 
against  the  interests  of  Europe,  but  he  was  obtaining  money 


266  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1517  i 

from  England  under  the  pretext  of  siding  with  England  against  j 

France  and  Prince  Charles,  while  he  was  at  the  same  moment  1 

making  a  secret  treaty  with  France  and  preparing  the  way  for  i 

the  succession  of  Charles  to  the  empire.    The  three  young  and  i 

aspiring  princes  —  Henry,  Francis,  and  Charles  —  were  eyeing  j 

one  another  with  shifting  suspicions,  and  jealously  plotting  ! 

against  one  another  in  the  dark.    Europe  in  the  meantime  was  ; 

kept  in  a  chronic  state  of  warfare.    Scotland  was  kept  by  ; 

France  always  on  the  point  of  quarrelling  with  England.    The  ■ 

Duke  of  Gueldres  and  his  "  black  band  "  were  committing  cruel  ! 

depredations  in  the  Netherlands  to  the  destruction  of  the  peace  ' 

and  prosperity  of  an  industrious  people.     Franz  von  Sickingen  I 

was  engaged  in  what  those  who  suffered  from  it  spoke  of  as  1 

"  inhuman  private  warfare."     Such  was  the  state  of  Germany,  ' 

that,  to  quote  the  words  of  Ranke,  ""there  was  hardly  a  part  of  I 

the  country  which  was  not  either  distracted  by  private  wars,  ! 

troubled  by  internal  divisions,  or  terrified  by  the  danger  of  an  \ 

attack  from  some  neighbouring  power."     The  administration  ■ 

of  civil  and  criminal  law  was  equally  bad.     Again,  to  quote  from  j 

the  same  historian,  "  The  criminal  under  ban  found  shelter  and  \ 

protection;  and  as  the  other  courts  of  justice  were  in  no  better  ; 

condition  —  in  all,  incapable  judges,  impunity  for  misdoers,  i 

and  abuses  without  end— disquiet  and  tumult  had  broken  out  j 

in  all  parts.    Neither  by  land  nor  water  were  the  ways  safe :  .  .  .  j 

the  husbandman,  by  whose  labours  all  classes  were  fed,  was  i 

ruined;  widows  and  orphans  were  deserted;  not  a  pilgrim  or  a  i 

messenger  or  a  tradesman  could  travel  along  the  roads.  .  .  ."  ' 
Such,  according  to  Ranke,  were  the  complaints  of  the  German 

people  in  the  Diet  of  Maintz  in  151 7,  and  the  Diet  separated  ; 

without  even  suggesting  a  remedy.  \ 

It  was  from  a  continent  thus  brought,  by  the  madness  of  the  ! 

Pope  and  princes,  to  the  very  brink  of  both  a  civil  and  a  religious  \ 

revolution,  that  Erasmus  looked  longingly  to  England  as  "  out  ; 

of  the  world,  and  perhaps  the  least  corrupted  portion  of  it " —  I 

as  that  retreat  in  which,  after  one  more  journey  southwards,  j 

to  print  the  second  edition  of  his  New  Testament  and  "  some  ] 

other  works,"  he  hoped  at  length  to  spend  his  declining  years  j 

in  peaceful  retirement.    The  following  portion  of  a  letter  to  j 

Colet  will  also  show  how  fully  he  saw  through  the  policy  of  j 

Leo  X.,  hated  the  madness  of  princes,  and  shared  the  indignation  j 

of  Luther  at  the  sale  of  indulgences.  | 


1517-18]  European  Politics  267 

Erasmus  to  Colet 

"  I  am  obliged,  in  order  to  print  the  New  Testament  and 
some  other  books,  to  go  either  to  Basle,  or,  more  probably,  I 
think,  to  Venice :  for  I  am  deterred  from  Basle  partly  by  the 
plague  and  partly  by  the  death  of  Lachnerus,  whose  pecuniary 
aid  was  almost  indispensable  to  the  work.  '  What,'  you  will 
say, '  are  you,  an  old  man,  in  delicate  health,  going  to  undertake 
so  laborious  a  journey! — in  these  times,  too,  than  which  none 
worse  have  been  seen  for  six  hundred  years;  while  everywhere 
lawless  robbery  abounds ! '  But  why  do  you  say  so  ?  I  was 
born  to  this  fate;  if  I  die,  I  die  in  a  work  which,  unless  I  am 
mistaken,  is  not  altogether  a  bad  one.  But  if,  this  last  stroke 
of  my  work  being  accomplished  according  to  my  intention,  I 
should  chance  to  return,  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  spend  the 
remainder  of  my  life  with  you,  in  retirement  from  a  world  which 
is  everywhere  rotten.  Ecclesiastical  hypocrites  rule  in  the 
courts  of  princes.  The  court  of  Rome  clearly  has  lost  all  sense 
of  shame;  for  what  could  he  more  shameless  than  these  continued 
indulgences  ?  Now  a  war  against  the  Turks  is  put  forth  as  a 
pretext,  when  the  real  purpose  is  to  drive  the  Spaniards  from 
Naples;  for  Lorenzo,  the  Pope's  nephew,  who  has  married  the 
daughter  of  the  King  of  Navarre,  lays  claim  to  Campania.  If 
these  turmoils  continue,  the  rule  of  the  Turks  would  be  easier 
to  bear  than  that  of  these  Christians." 

Erasmus  wrote  to  Warham  in  precisely  the  same  strain,  and 
shortly  afterwards,  on  March  5,  15 18,  in  a  letter  to  More,  he 
exclaimed,  "  The  Pope  and  some  princes  are  playing  a  fresh 
game  under  the  pretext  of  a  horrid  war  against  the  Turks. 
Oh,  wretched  Turks !  unless  this  is  too  much  like  bluster  on  the 
part  of  us  Christians."  And,  he  added,  "They  write  to  me  from 
Cologne  that  a  book  has  been  printed  by  somebody,  describing 
'  Pope  Julius  disputing  with  Peter  at  the  gate  of  paradise.' 
The  author's  name  is  not  mentioned.  The  German  press  will  not 
cease  to  be  violent  until  some  law  shall  restrain  their  boldness,  to 
the  detriment  also  of  us,  who  are  labouring  to  benefit  mankind." 

This  satire,  entitled  Julius  de  Codo  exclusus,  was  eagerly 
purchased  and  widely  read,  and  was  one  of  a  series  of  satirical 
pamphlets  upon  the  Papacy  and  the  policy  of  the  Papal  party, 
for  which  the  way  had  been  prepared  by  the  Praise  of  Folly  and 
the  EpistolcB  Obscurorum  Virorum.  It  was  one  of  the  signs  of 
the  times. 


268  The  Oxford  Reformers  [isis 


II.    MORE   DRAWN   INTO   THE   SERVICE   OF   HENRY   VIII. — 
ERASMUS  LEAVES   GERMANY  FOR  BASLE  (1518) 

It  was  at  this  juncture — at  this  crisis  it  may  well  be  called — 
in  European  politics,  that  More  was  induced  at  length,  by  the 
earnest  solicitations  of  Henry  VIII.,  to  attach  himself  to  his 
court  under  circumstances  which  deserve  attention. 

In  the  spring  of  151 7,  a  frenzy  more  dangerous  than  that  in 
which  the  men  of  Coventry  indulged  had  seized  the  London 
apprentices.  Not  wholly  without  excuse,  they  had  risen  in 
arms  against  the  merchant  strangers,  who  were  very  numerous 
in  London,  and  to  some  of  whom  commercial  privileges  and 
licences  had,  perhaps,  been  too  freely  granted  by  a  minister 
anxious  to  increase  his  revenue.  Thus  had  resulted  the  riots 
of  "  the  evil  May-day,"  and  More  had  some  part  to  play  in  the 
restoration  of  order  in  the  city. 

Then,  in  August  151 7,  he  was  sent  on  an  embassy  to  Calais 
with  Wingfield  and  Knight.  Their  mission  ostensibly  was  to 
settle  disputes  between  French  and  English  merchants,  but 
probably  its  real  import  was  quite  as  much  to  pave  the  way  for 
more  important  negotiations. 

No  sooner  had  English  statesmen  opened  their  eyes  to  the 
fact  that  Maximilian  had  been  playing  into  the  hands  of  the 
French  King  against  the  interests  of  England,  than,  with  the 
natural  perversity  of  men  who  had  no  settled  principles  to  guide 
their  international  policy,  they  began  themselves,  out  of  sheer 
jealousy,  once  more  to  court  the  favour  of  the  sovereign  against 
whom  they  had  so  long  been  fruitlessly  plotting.  They  began 
secretly  to  seek  to  bring  about  a  French  alliance  with  England, 
which  should  out-manoeuvre  the  recent  treaty  of  the  Emperor 
with  France.  Thus,  by  a  sudden  and  unlooked-for  turn  in  con- 
tinental politics,  was  brought  about  the  curious  fact  that,  within 
a  few  months  of  the  publication  of  the  Utopia,  in  which  More 
had  advocated  such  a  policy,  the  surrender  of  Henry's  recent 
conquests  in  France  was  under  discussion.  By  February  in  the 
following  year  (15 18)  not  only  was  Tournay  restored  to  France, 
but  a  marriage  had  been  arranged  between  the  infant  Dauphin  of 
France  and  the  infant  Princess  Mary  of  England.  This  of  course 
involved  the  abandonment,  at  all  events  for  a  time,  of  Henry's 
personal  claims  on  the  crown  of  France.  What  share  More  had 
in  the  conversion  of  the  King  to  this  new  policy  remains  untold ; 
but  it  is  remarkable  that  within  so  short  a  time  his  Utopian 


i5i8]  More  Drawn  to  Court  269 

counsels  should  have  been  so  far  practically  followed,  and  that 
he  himself  should  have  been  chosen  as  one  of  the  ambassadors 
to  Calais  to  prepare  the  way  for  it. 

It  would  be  impossible  here  to  enter  into  a  detailed  examina- 
tion of  the  political  relations  of  England;  suffice  it  to  say,  that 
a  pacific  policy  seems  to  have  gained  the  upper  hand  for  the 
moment,  and  that  even  Wolsey  himself  seems  to  have  admitted 
the  necessity  of  so  far  following  More's  Utopian  counsels  as  to 
cut  down  the  annual  expenditure  of  the  kingdom,  and  to  husband 
her  resources. 

It  may  have  been  only  a  momentary  lull  in  the  King's  stormy 
passion  for  war,  but  it  lasted  long  enough  to  admit  of  the  renewal 
of  the  King's  endeavours  to  draw  More  into  his  service,  and  of 
More's  yielding  at  last  to  Royal  persuasions. 

Roper  tells  us  that  the  immediate  occasion  of  his  doing  so  was 
the  great  ability  shown  by  him  in  the  conduct  of  a  suit  respecting 
a  "  great  ship  "  belonging  to  the  Pope,  which  the  King  claimed 
for  a  forfeiture.  In  connection  with  which.  Roper  tells  us  that 
More,  "  in  defence  on  the  Pope's  side,  argued  so  learnedly,  that 
both  was  the  aforesaid  forfeiture  restored  to  the  Pope,  and  himseK 
among  all  the  hearers,  for  his  upright  and  commendable  de- 
meanour therein,  so  greatly  renowned  that  for  no  entreaty  would 
the  King  from  henceforth  be  induced  any  longer  to  forbear  his 
service." 

What  passed  between  the  King  and  his  new  courtier  on  this 
occasion,  and  upon  what  conditions  More  yielded  to  the  King's 
entreaties.  Roper  does  not  mention  in  this  connection;  but  that 
he  maintained  his  independence  of  thought  and  action,  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  eighteen  years  after,  when  in  peril 
of  his  life  from  Royal  displeasure,  he  had  occasion  upon  his 
knees  to  remind  his  sovereign  of  ''  the  most  godly  words  that 
his  Highness  spake  unto  him  at  his  first  coming  into  his  noble 
service — the  most  virtuous  lesson  that  ever  a  prince  taught  his 
servant — willing  him  iirst  to  look  to  God,  and  after  God  unto  him  I " 

Now  that  Henry  VIII.  had  apparently  changed  his  policy, 
now  that  he  was  giving  up  his  pretensions  to  the  crown  of  France, 
and  no  longer  talking  of  invading  her  shores,  now  that  he  seemed 
to  be  calling  to  his  councils  the  very  man  who,  next  to  Colet,  had 
spoken  more  plainly  than  any  one  else  in  condemnation  of  that 
warlike  policy  in  which  Henry  VIII.  had  so  long  indulged,  now 
that  Henry  VIII.  himself  seemed  to  be  returning  to  his  first  love 
of  letters  and  the  "  new  learning,"  the  hopes  of  Erasmus  began 


270  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1518 

once  more  to  rely  upon  him  rather  than  upon  any  other  of  the 
princes  of  Europe.  Erasmus  had  lost  his  confidence  in  Leo  X. 
Prince  Charles  was  now  going  to  Spain,  leaving  the  Netherlands 
in  a  state  of  confusion  and  anarchy,  a  prey  to  the  devastations 
of  the  "  black  band/'  and  for  the  present  little  could  reasonably 
be  expected  from  him,  notwithstanding  all  the  good  advice 
Erasmus  had  given  him  in  the  Christian  Prince. 

While  Henry  VIII.  had  been  wild  after  mihtary  glory,  and 
had  seemed  ready  to  sacrifice  everything  to  this  dominant 
passion,  Erasmus  had  thought  it  useless  to  waste  words  upon  him 
which  he  would  not  heed ;  but  the  war  being  over  in  September 
15 1 7,  he  had  sent  him  a  copy  of  the  Christian  Prince,  and  en- 
couraged his  royal  endeavours  to  still  the  tempests  which  during 
the  past  few  years  had  so  violently  raged  in  human  affairs.  Nor 
is  it  without  significance  that  in  this  letter  to  Henry  VIII.  we 
find  him  using  warm  words  in  commendation  of  a  trait  of  the 
King's  character,  which  Erasmus  said  he  admired  above  all 
others;  viz.  this — that  he  delighted  *'  in  the  converse  of  prudent 
and  learned  men,  especially  of  those  who  did  not  know  how  to 
speak  just  what  they  thought  would  pleased 

Under  other  circumstances  such  words  written  to  Henry  VIII. 
might  have  seemed  like  satire  or  perhaps  empty  adulation,  but 
written  as  they  were  while  Henry  was  as  yet  unsuccessfully 
trying  to  induce  More  to  enter  his  service,  and  only  a  few  months 
after  the  publication  of  the  Utopia,  they  do  not  read  like  words 
of  flattery. 

When  in  writing  to  Fisher  he  had  spoken  of  England  as  "  out 
of  the  world,  or  perhaps  the  least  corrupted  portion  of  it,"  he 
had  honestly  expressed  his  real  feelings  at  a  time  when,  whilst 
continental  affairs  were  in  hopeless  confusion  and  anarchy, 
there  were  at  least  some  hopeful  symptoms  that  a  better  policy 
would  be  adopted  for  the  future  by  Henry  VIII. 

It  was  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  same  feelings  that,  on 
hearing  that  More  had  yielded  to  the  King's  wishes,  he  wrote  to 
him  on  April  24,  15 18,  not  to  congratulate  him  on  the  step  he 
had  taken,  but  to  tell  him  that  the  only  thing  which  consoled  him 
in  regard  to  it  was  the  consideration  that  he  would  serve  under 
"  the  best  of  kings."  And  from  this  remark  he  passed  by  a 
natural  train  of  thought  to  speak  of  the  dangers  which  would 
attend  his  own  projected  journey  southwards  through  Germany, 
and  bitterly  to  allude  to  the  novel  clemency  of  the  Dukes  of  Cleves, 
Juhers,  and  Nassau,  who  had  been  secretly  conspiring  to  disperse 
in  safety  the  "  black  band  "  of  political  ruffians,  at  whose  depre- 


i5i8]  Erasmus  Goes  to  Basle  271 

dations  they  had  too  long  connived.  Had  their  scheme  been 
successful,  it  would  have  cast  loose  these  lawless  ruffians  upon 
society  without  even  the  control  of  their  robber  leaders.  But, 
as  it  was,  the  people  took  the  matter  into  their  own  hands,  and 
disconcerted  the  conspiracy  of  their  princes.  The  peasantry, 
exasperated  by  constant  depredations,  and  thirsting  for  the 
destruction  of  the  robbers,  had  risen  in  a  body  and  surrounded 
them.  A  chance  blast  from  a  trumpet  had  revealed  their  where- 
abouts, and  in  the  melee  which  followed,  more  than  a  thousand 
were  cut  to  pieces;  the  rest  escaped  to  continue  their  work  of 
plunder.  It  was  not  remarkable  if,  living  in  the  midst  of 
anarchy  such  as  this,  Erasmus  should  envy  the  comparative 
security  of  England,  and  even  for  the  moment  be  inclined  to 
praise  the  harsh  justice  with  which  EngHsh  robbers,  instead 
of  being  secretly  protected  and  encouraged,  were  sent  to  the 
gallows. 

Erasmus  had  decided  upon  going  to  Basle,  and  in  writing  to 
Beatus  Rhenanus  ^  to  inform  him  that  he  intended  to  do  so  in  the 
course  of  the  summer,  "if  it  should  be  safe  to  travel  through 
Germany,"  he  spoke  of  the  condition  of  Germany  as  worse  than 
that  of  the  infernal  regions,  on  account  of  the  numbers  of  robbers; 
and  asked  what  princes  could  be  about  to  allow  such  a  state  of 
things  to  exist, 

"  All  sense  of  shame,"  he  wrote,  "  has  vanished  altogether 
from  human  affairs.  I  see  that  the  very  height  of  tyranny  has 
been  reached.  The  Pope  and  kings  count  the  people  not  as  men 
but  as  cattle  in  the  market.'^ 

Once  more,  on  May  i,  Erasmus  wrote  to  Colet  before  leaving 
for  Basle,  to  tell  him  that  he  really  was  going,  in  spite  of  the 
dangers  of  travel  through  a  country  full  of  disbanded  ruffians; 
to  complain  of  the  cruel  clemency  of  princes  who  spare  scoun- 
drels and  cut-throats,  and  yet  do  not  spare  their  own  subjects, 
to  whom  those  who  oppress  their  people  are  dearer  than  the 
people  themselves;  and  to  reiterate  his  intention  to  fly  back 
to  his  English  friends  as  soon  as  his  work  at  Basle  should  be 
accomplished.  And  then  he  ventured  on  the  journey. 
*  March  13,  1518. 


272  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1518 


CHAPTER  XV 

I.   ERASMUS   ARRIVES   AT   BASLE — HIS   LABOURS   THERE  (1518) 

Erasmus  arrived  at  Basle  on  Ascension  Day,  May  13,  15 18. 

But  though  he  had  escaped  the  robbers,  and  survived  the 
toils  of  the  journey,  he  reached  Basle  in  a  state  of  health  so 
susceptible  of  infection,  that,  in  the  course  of  a  day  or  two, 
he  found  himself  laid  up  with  that  very  disease  which  he  had 
mentioned  in  his  letter  to  Colet  as  prevalent  at  Basle,  and  as  one 
great  reason  why  he  had  shrunk  from  going  there. 

But  even  an  attack  of  this  "  plague  "  did  not  prevent  him 
from  beginning  his  work  at  once. 

Whilst  suffering  from  its  early  symptoms,  during  intervals 
of  pain  and  weakness,  he  wrote  a  careful  reply  to  a  letter  he  had 
received  from  Dr.  Eck,  Professor  of  the  University  of  Ingolstadt 
in  Bavaria,  complaining,  as  Luther  had  already  done,  indirectly 
through  Spalatin,  of  the  anti-Augustinian  proclivities  of  the 
Novum  Instrumentum. 

Luther  and  Eck  had  already  had  communications  on  theo- 
logical subjects.  The  Wittemberg  theologian  had  sent  to  his 
Ingolstadt  brother  for  his  approval,  through  a  mutual  friend, 
a  set  of  propositions  aimed  against  the  Pelagian  tendencies  of 
the  times. 

But  Eck  and  Luther,  whilst  both  admirers  of  St.  Augustine, 
and  both  jealous  of  Erasmus  and  his  anti-Augustinian  pro- 
clivities, rested  their  objections  on  somewhat  different  grounds. 

Luther  looked  coldly  on  the  Novum  Intrumentum  mainly 
because  he  thought  he  found  in  its  doctrinal  statements  traces 
of  Pelagian  heresy.  Dr.  Eck  objected  not  so  much  to  any 
error  in  doctrine  which  it  might  contain,  as  to  the  method  of 
biblical  criticism  which  it  adopted  throughout.  He  objected  to 
the  suggestion  it  contained,  that  the  Apostles  quoted  the  Old 
Testament  fyom  memory,  and,  therefore,  not  always  correctly. 
He  objected  to  the  insinuation  that  their  Greek  was  colloquial, 
and  not  strictly  classical. 

With  regard  to  the  first  point,  he  referred  to  the  well-known 
and,  as  he  thought,  "  most  excellent  argument  of  St.  Augustine  " 
against  the  admission  of  any  error  in  the  Scriptures,  lest  the 


i5i8]  Erasmus  to  Dr.  Eck  273 

authority  of  the  whole  should  be  lost.  And  with  regard  to  the 
second,  he  charged  Erasmus  with  making  himself  a  preceptor 
to  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  though  the  Holy  Spirit  had  been  wanting 
in  attention  or  learning,  and  required  the  defects  resulting 
from  his  negligence  to  be  now,  after  so  many  centuries,  supplied 
by  Erasmus. 

He  made  these  criticisms,  he  wrote,  not  in  the  spirit  of 
opposition,  but  because  he  could  not  agree  with  the  preference 
shown  by  Erasmus  to  Jerome  over  Augustine.  It  was  the  one 
point  in  which  the  Erasmian  creed  was  at  fault.  Nearly  all 
the  learned  world  was  Erasmian  already,  but  this  one  thing  all 
Erasmians  complained  of  in  Erasmus — that  he  would  not  study 
the  works  of  St.  Augustine.  If  he  would  but  do  this,  Eck  was 
sure  he  would  acknowledge  that  it  would  be  rash  indeed  to 
assign  to  St.  Augustine  any  other  than  the  highest  place 
amongst  the  fathers  of  the  Church. 

Erasmus  replied  to  the  first  objection,  that,  in  his  judgment, 
the  authority  of  the  whole  Scriptures  would  not  fall  with  any 
slip  of  memory  on  the  part  of  an  Evangelist — e.g.  if  he  put 
"Isaiah"  by  mistake  for  "Jeremiah" — because  no  point  of 
importance  turns  upon  it.  We  do  not  forthwith  think  evil  of 
the  whole  life  of  Peter  because  Augustire  and  Ambrose  afhrm 
that  even  after  he  had  received  the  Holy  Ghost  he  fell  into  error 
on  some  points;  and  so  our  faith  is  not  altogether  shaken  in  a 
whole  book  because  it  has  some  defects. 

With  regard  to  the  colloquial  Greek  of  the  Apostles,  he  took 
the  authority  of  Jerome,  and  Origen,  and  the  Greek  fathers  as 
good  evidence  on  that  point. 

With  respect  to  his  preference  for  Jerome  over  Augustine, 
he  knew  what  he  was  about.  His  preference  for  Jerome  was 
dehberate,  and  rested  on  good  grounds.  When  he  came  to  the 
passage  in  Eck's  letter  where  he  stated  that  all  Erasmians 
complained  of  his  one  fault — not  reading  Augustine — he  could 
not  read  it  without  laughing.  "  I  know  of  nothing  in  me,"  he 
wrote,  "  why  any  one  should  wish  to  be  Erasmian,  and  I 
altogether  hate  that  term  of  division.  We  are  all  Christians,  and 
labour,  each  in  his  own  sphere,  to  advance  the  glory  of  Christ." 
But  that  he  had  not  read  the  works  of  Augustine !  Why,  they 
were  the  very  first  that  he  did  read  of  the  writings  of  the  fathers. 
He  had  read  them  over  and  over  again.  Let  his  critics  examine 
his  works,  they  would  find  that  there  was  scarcely  a  work  of 
St.  Augustine  which  was  not  there  quoted  many  hundred  times. 
Let  him  compare  Augustine  and  Jerome  on  their  merits.    Jerome 


274  'The  Oxford  Reformers  [1518  f 

was  a  pupil  of  Origen,  and  one  page  of  Origen  teaches  more 

Christian  philosophy  than  ten  of  Augustine.    Augustine  scarcely  ^ 

knew  Greek;   at  all  events  was  not  at  home  in  Greek  writers.  > 

Besides  this,  by  his  own  confession,  he  was  busied  with  his  -i 

bishopric,  and  could  hardly  snatch  time  to  learn  what  he  taught  * 

to  others.     Jerome  devoted  thirty-five  years  to  the  study  of  the  \ 

Scriptures.  '{ 

In  the  meantime,  in  conclusion,  he  observed  that  the  differ-  \ 

ence  of  opinion  between  himself  and  Eck  upon  these  points  < 

need  -not  interrupt  their  friendship,  any  more  than  the  difference  ' 

of  opinion  upon  the  same  point  between  Jerome  and  Augustine  \ 

interrupted  theirs.  ; 

Having  despatched  this  reply  to  Eck,  and  recovered  from  ' 

what  proved  a  short  but  sharp  attack  of  illness,  Erasmus  wrote  i 

to  More  on  June  i  to  advise  him  of  his  safe  arrival  at  Basle,  of  : 

his  illness  and  recovery,  and  to  express  the  hope  that  a  few  : 

months  would  see  his  labours  there  accomplished.     If  the  Fates  ; 

were  propitious,  he  hoped  to  return  to  Brabant  in  September.  \ 

1 

What  were  the  works  which  he  had  come  to  Basle  to  publish  i 
during  these  tumultuous  times  ?  j 

The  second  edition  of  the  New  Testament  will  require  a  | 
separate  notice  by  and  by.  A  new  and  corrected  edition  of  ■ 
More's  Utopia  was  already  in  hand,  and  waiting  only  for  a  letter  ;] 
which  Budseus  was  writing  to  be  prefixed  to  it.  A  new  edition  ] 
of  the  Institutio  Principis  Christiani  was  also  to  come  forth  from  ij 
the  press  of  Froben.  ;! 

It  might  seem  hopeless  to  put  forth  works  such  as  these,  J 
expressing  views  so  far  in  advance  of  the  practices  of  the  times,  ] 
but  the  fact  that  new  editions  were  so  rapidly  called  for  proved  i 
that  they  were  eagerly  read.  In  the  same  letter  in  which  .| 
Erasmus  ridiculed  to  More  the  projected  expedition  against  j 
the  Turks,  and  spoke  of  the  violence  of  the  German  press  and  ,; 
the  satire  which  had  just  appeared,  Julius  de  Ccelo  exclusus,  | 
he  spoke  of  having  seen  another  edition  of  the  Utopia  just  | 
printed  at  Paris.  \ 

In  the  previous  year,  151 7,  Froben  had  printed  a  sixth  edition  j 
of  the  Adagia,  which  had  now  expanded  into  a  thick  folio  volume,  i 
and  become  a  receptacle  for  the  views  of  Erasmus  on  many  j 
chance  subjects.  In  this  edition  he  had  expressed  his  indignant  | 
feelings  against  the  political  anarchy  and  Papal  scandals  of  the  i 
period,  and  he  told  More  to  look  particularly  at  what  he  had  ;> 
written  on  the  adage,  Ut  fici  oculis  incumbunt ;  in  which  was  | 


isi8]       New  Edition  of  "  Enchiridion  "       275 

an  allusion  to  the  "  insatiable  avarice,  unbridled  lust,  most 
pernicious  cruelty,  and  great  tyranny  "  of  princes;  and  to  the 
evil  influence  of  those  ecclesiastics  who,  ever  ready  to  do  the 
dirty  work  of  princes  and  popes,  abetted  and  mixed  themselves 
up  with  the  worst  scandals.  And  again  it  is  remarkable  to  find 
how  rapidly  this  ponderous  edition  of  the  Adagia  must  have 
been  sold  to  admit  of  another  following  in  1520,  still  further 
increased  in  bulk — a  large  folio  volume  of  nearly  800  pages. 

In  addition  to  these  reprints,  two  separate  collections  of  some 
of  his  letters  were  printed  by  Froben  in  15 18,  evidently  intended 
to  aid  in  spreading  more  widely  those  plain-spoken  views  on 
various  subjects  which  he  had  expressed  in  his  private  letters 
to  his  friends  during  the  last  few  years.  Another  edition  was 
also  called  for  of  the  Enchiridion;  and  Erasmus,  on  his  arrival 
at  Basle,  burning  as  well  he  might  with  increased  indignation 
against  the  scandals  of  the  times,  wrote  a  new  preface,  in  the 
form  of  a  letter  to  Volzius,  the  Abbot  of  a  monastery  at  Schele- 
stadt — a  letter  which,  containing  in  almost  every  line  of  it 
pointed  allusion  to  passing  events,  was  eagerly  devoured  by 
thinking  men  all  over  Europe,  and  passed  through  several 
editions  in  a  very  short  space  of  time. 

It  was  a  letter  in  which  he  repeated  the  conviction  which 
he  had  learned  twenty  years  before  from  Colet,  that  the  true 
Christian  creed  was  exceedingly  simple,  adapted  not  for  the 
learned  alone,  but  for  all  men. 

And  upon  this  ground  he  defended  the  simplicity  of  his  little 
handy-book,  contrasting  it  with  the  Sunima  of  Aquinas. 
"  Let  the  great  doctors,  which  must  needs  be  but  few  in  com- 
parison with  other  men,  study  and  busy  themselves  in  those 
great  volumes."  The  "  unlearned  and  rude  multitude,  which 
Christ  died  for,  ought  to  be  provided  for  also."  "  Christ  would 
that  the  way  should  be  plain  and  open  to  every  man,"  and 
therefore,  we  ourselves  ought  to  endeavour  with  all  "  our 
strength  to  make  it  as  easy  as  can  be."  ^ 

He  then  alluded  to  the  war  against  the  Turks,  and  hinted 
that  it  would  be  better  to  try  to  convert  them.  Do  we  wonder, 
he  urged,  that  Christianity  does  not  spread?  that  we  cannot 
convert  the  Turks  ?  What  is  the  use  of  laying  before  them  the 
ponderous  tomes  of  the  Schoolmen,  full  of  "  thorny  and  cum- 
brous and  inextricably  subtle  imaginations  of  instants,  form- 
alities, quiddities,"  and  the  like  ?  We  ought  to  place  before  them 
the  simple  philosophy  of  Christ  contained  in  the  Gospels  and 
^English  translation.     London:    Jno.  Byddell,  1522. 


276 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 18 


Apostolic  Epistles,  simplifying  even  their  phraseology;  giving 
them  in  fact  the  pith  of  them  in  as  simple  and  clear  a  form  as 
possible.  And  of  what  use  would  even  this  be  if  our  lives  belied 
our  creed  ?  They  must  see  that  we  ourselves  are  servants  and 
imitators  of  Jesus  Christ,  that  we  do  not  covet  anything  of 
theirs  for  ourselves,  but  that  we  desire  their  salvation  and  the 
glory  of  Christ.  This  was  the  true,  pure,  and  powerful  theology 
which  in  olden  time  subjected  to  Christ  the  pride  of  philosophers 
and  the  sceptres  of  kings. 

Erasmus  then,  after  a  passing  censure  of  the  scandals  brought 
upon  Christianity  by  the  warlike  policy  of  priests  and  princes, 
the  sale  of  indulgences,  and  so  forth,  proceeded  to  criticise  the 
religion  of  modern  monks,  their  reliance  on  ceremonies,  their 
degeneracy,  and  worldliness. 

"...  Once  the  monastic  Hfe  was  a  retreat  or  retirement  from 
the  world,  of  men  who  v/ere  called  out  of  idolatry  to  Christ: 
now  those  who  are  called  monks  are  found  in  the  very  vortex 
of  worldly  business,  exercising  a  sort  of  tyrannical  rule  over  the 
affairs  of  men.  They  alone  are  holy,  other  men  are  scarcely 
Christians.  Why  should  we  thus  narrow  the  Christian  profession , 
when  Christ  wished  it  to  he  as  broad  as  possible  ?  Except  the 
big  name,  what  is  a  state  but  one  great  monastery?  Let  no  one 
despise  another  because  his  manner  of  life  is  different.  ...  In 
every  path  of  life  let  all  strive  to  attain  to  the  mind  of  Christ 
[scopum  Christi],  Let  us  assist  one  another,  neither  envying 
those  who  surpass  us,  nor  despising  those  who  may  lag  behind. 
And  if  any  one  should  excel  another,  let  him  beware  lest  he  be 
like  the  Pharisee  in  the  Gospel,  who  recounted  his  good  deeds 
to  God;  rather  let  him  follow  the  teaching  of  Christ,  and  say, 
'  I  am  an  unprofitable  servant.'  No  one  more  truly  has 
faith  than  he  who  distrusts  himself.  No  one  is  really  further 
from  true  religion  than  he  who  thinks  himself  most  religious. 
Nothing  is  worse  for  Christian  piety  than  for  what  is  really 
of  the  world  to  be  misconstrued  to  be  of  Christ — for  human 
authority  to  be  preferred  to  Divine."  ^ 

It  was  a  letter  firm  and  calm  in  its  tone,  and  well  adapted 
to  the  end  in  view.     It  was  dated  from  Basle,  in  August  15 18. 

The  Enchiridion,  with  this  prefatory  letter,  was  pubHshed  in 
September,  together  with  some  minor  works,  amongst  which  was 
the  "  Discussion  on  the  Agony  in  the  Garden,"  including  Colet's 
reply,  in  which  he  had  expressed  his  views  on  the  theory  of  the 
"  manifold  senses  "  of  Scripture,  the  whole  forming  an  elegant 
'      %  ^  These  passages  are  condensed  in  the  translation. 


i5i8]     Second  Edition  of  New  Testament    277 

quarto  volume  printed  in  the  very  best  type  of  Froben. 
Another  beautiful  edition  was  published  at  Cologne  in  the 
following  year. 


II.   THE   SECOND   EDITION    OF  THE   NEW  TESTAMENT 
(1518-I9) 

The  time  had  come  for  Erasmus  more  fully  and  publicly  to 
reply  to  the  various  attacks  which  had  been  made  upon  the 
Novum  Instrumentum. 

Its  most  bitter  opponents  had  been  the  ignorant  Scotists  and 
monks  who  were  caricatured  in  the  EpistolcB  Obscurorum  Virorum. 
"  There  are  none/'  wrote  Erasmus  to  a  friend^  "  who  bark  at  me 
more  furiously  than  they  who  have  never  seen  even  the  outside 
of  my  book.  Try  the  experiment  upon  any  of  them,  and  you 
will  find  what  I  tell  you  is  true.  When  you  meet  any  one  of 
these  brawlers,  let  him  rave  on  at  my  New  Testament  till  he  has 
made  himself  hoarse  and  out  of  breath,  then  ask  him  gently 
whether  he  has  read  it.  If  he  have  the  impudence  to  say  '  yes/ 
urge  him  to  produce  one  passage  that  deserves  to  be  blamed. 
You  will  find  that  he  cannot." 

To  opponents  such  as  these,  Erasmus  had  sufficiently  replied 
by  the  re-issue  of  the  Enchiridion  with  the  new  prefatory  letter 
to  Volzius. 

But  there  was  another  class  of  objectors  to  the  Novum  Instru- 
mentum who  were  not  ignorant  and  altogether  bigoted,  and  who 
honestly  differed  from  the  views  of  Erasmus;  some  of  them, 
like  Luther,  because  he  did  not  follow  the  Augustinian  theology; 
others,  like  Eck,  who  adhered  to  Augustine's  theory  of  verbal 
inspiration;  others,  again,  who  were  jealous  of  the  tendencies 
of  the  "  new  learning,"  and  saw  covert  heresies  in  all  departures 
from  the  beaten  track. 

The  reply  of  Erasmus  to  these  was  a  second  edition  of  his 
New  Testament;  and  this  was  already  in  course  of  publication 
at  Froben's  press.^ 

Erasmus  took  pains  in  the  second  edition  to  correct  an 
immense  number  of  little  errors  which  had  crept  into  the  first. 
But  in  those  points  in  which  it  was  the  expression  of  the  views 
of  the  Oxford  Reformers,  he  altered  nothing,  unless  it  were  to 
express  them  more  clearly  and  strongly,  or  to  defend  what  he 
had  said  in  the  Novum  Instrumentum. 

^  The  Epistle  at  the  beginning  from  Leo  X.  to  Erasmus,  bears  date 
September  1518.     March  15 19  is  the  date  printed  at  the  end. 


278 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [isis] 


Thus  the  passage  condemned  by  Luther,  in  which  the  resort 'i 
by  theologians  to  the  doctrine  of  "  original  sin  "  was  compared^ 
to  the  invention  of  epicycles  by  mediaeval  astronomers,  was 
retained  in  all  essential  particulars  without  modification.  ] 

So,  too,  the  passages  censured  by  Eck  as  inimical  to  thai 
Augustinian  theory  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  were* 
not  only  retained,  but  amplified,  while  opportunity  was  taken' 
to  strengthen  the  arguments  in  favour  of  the  freer  view  oi\ 
inspiration  held  by  the  Oxford  Reformers.  I 

Again;  the  main  drift  and  spirit  of  the  body  of  the  work- 
remained  unchanged.  Its  title,  however,  was  altered  from' 
Novum  Instrumentum  to  Novum  Testamentum.  \ 

In  speaking  of  the  Novum  Instrumentum  it  was  observed,] 
that  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  portion  of  the  work  was  the! 
prefatory  matter,  especially  the  "  Paraclesis."  I 

This  "  Paraclesis  "  remained  the  same  in  the  second  edition  as  | 
in  the  Novum  Instrumentum,  including  the  passages  quoted  in ! 
a  former  chapter,  urging  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  I 
into  every  language,  so  that  it  might  become  the  common ' 
property  of  the  ploughman  and  the  mechanic,  and  even  of  Turks  I 
and  Saracens,  ending  also  with  the  passage  in  which  Erasmus ! 
had  so  forcibly  summed  up  the  value  of  the  Gospels  and  Epistles,  j 
by  pointing  out  how  "  living  and  breathing  a  picture  "  theyjj 
presented  of  Christ  "  speaking,  healing,  dying,  and  rising  again,* 
bringing  his  life  so  vividly  before  the  eye,  that  we  almost  seemj 
to  have  seen  it  ourselves."  < 

Next  to  the  "  Paraclesis,"  in  the  first  edition,  had  followed  a  few 
paragraphs  treating  of  the  "  method  of  theological  study." 
This  in  the  second  edition  was  so  greatly  enlarged  as  to  become 
an  important  feature  of  the  work.  It  was  also  printed  separ- 
ately, and  passed  through  several  editions  under  the  title,  jj 
Ratio  VercB  Theologice.  f 

Erasmus  in  this  treatise  pointed  out,  as  he  had  done  before,  j 
the  great  advantages  of  the  study  of  the  New  Testament  in  its 
original  language,  and  urged  that  all  branches  of  knowledge,] 
natural  philosophy,  geography,  history,  classics,  mythology,! 
should  be  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  again  assigning  the  reason! 
which  he  had  before  given — "  that  we  may  follow  the  story,  | 
and  seem  not  only  to  read  it  but  to  see  it;  for  it  is  wonderful | 
how  much  light — how  much  life,  so  to  speak — is  thrown  byj 
this  method  into  what  before  seemed  dry  and  lifeless."  | 

Contrasting  the  results  of  this  method  with  that  commonly  j 
in  use  in  lectures  and  sermons,  he  exclaimed,  "  How  these  very  | 


isi8]  "  Ratio  Veras  Theologias  "  279 

things  which  were  meant  to  warm  and  to  enliven,  themselves 
lie  cold  and  without  any  life!  "  And  then,  to  give  an  example 
of  the  true  method,  he  recommended  the  student  to  study  the 
homily  of  Origen  on  Abraham  commanded  to  sacrifice  his  son,  in 
which  a  type  or  example  is  set  before  our  eyes,  to  show  that  the 
power  of  faith  is  stronger  than  all  human  passions.  The  object 
[of  Origen]  is  to  point  out,  dwelling  on  each  little  circumstance, 
by  what  and  how  many  ways  the  trial  struck  home  over  and 
over  again  to  the  heart  of  the  father.  "  Take,  he  said,  thy  son. 
What  parent's  heart  would  not  soften  at  the  name  of  son  ?  But 
that  the  sacrifice  might  be  still  greater,  it  is  added — thy  dearest  son 
— and  yet  more  emphatic — whom  thou  lovest.  Here  surely,  was 
enough  for  a  human  heart  to  grapple  with.  .  .  .  But  Isaac 
was  more  than  merely  a  son,  he  was  the  son  of  promise.  The 
good  man  longed  for  posterity,  and  all  his  hope  depended  on  the 
life  of  this  one  child.  He  was  commanded  to  ascend  a  high 
mountain,  and  it  took  him  three  days  to  get  there.  During  all 
the  time,  what  conflicting  thoughts  must  have  rent  the  heart 
of  the  parent !  his  human  affections  on  the  one  side,  the  Divine 
command  on  the  other.  As  they  are  going,  the  boy  carrying 
the  wood,  calls  to  his  father  who  bears  the  fire  and  the  sword, 
'  Father! '  and  he  replies,  '  What  dost  thou  want,  my  son?  ' 
How  must  the  heart  of  the  old  man  have  throbbed  with  the 
pulsations  of  his  love!  Who  would  not  have  been  moved  with 
loving  pity  for  the  simplicity  of  the  obedient  boy,  when  he  said, 
'  Here  is  the  fire  and  the  wood,  but  where  is  the  victim  ?  '  In 
how  many  ways  was  the  faith  of  Abraham  tried!  And  now 
mark  with  what  firmness,  with  what  constancy,  did  he  go  on 
doing  what  he  was  commanded  to  do.  He  did  not  reply  to 
God,  he  did  not  argue  with  him  concerning  his  promised  faith- 
fulness, he  did  not  even  mourn  with  his  friends  and  relations 
over  his  childlessness,  as  most  men  would  have  done  to  lighten 
their  grief.  Seeing  the  place  afar  off,  he  told  his  servants  to 
stop,  lest  any  of  them  should  hinder  his  carrying  out  what  was 
commanded.  ...  He  himself  built  the  altar;  he  himself  bound 
the  boy  and  put  him  on  the  wood;  the  sword  quivered  in  his 
grasp,  and  would  have  slain  his  only  son,  on  whom  all  his 
cherished  hope  of  posterity  depended,  had  not  suddenly  the 
voice  of  an  angel  stayed  the  old  man's  hand." 

Thus  (continued  Erasmus),  but  more  at  length  and  more 
elegantly,  are  these  things  related  by  Origen,  I  hardly  know 
whether  more  to  the  pleasure  or  profit  of  the  reader;  although, 
be  it  observed,  they  are  construed  altogether  according  to  the 


280  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 18  ^ 

historical  sense ;  nor  does  he  apply  any  other  method  to  the  ;. 
Holy  Scriptures  than  that  which  Donatus  applies  to  the  comedies  I 
of  Terence  when  elucidating  the  meaning  of  the  classics.  ,; 

It  would  almost  seem  that  Erasmus  might  have  read  Luther's  \ 
letter  to  Spalatin  in  which  he  complained  of  St.  Jerome's  adher-  ■ 
ing  upon  principle  to  the  historical  sense,  and  mourned  over  the  | 
tendency  he  had  seen  in  Erasmus  to  follow  his  example.  Luther  .^ 
spoke  of  this  literal  historical  method  of  interpretation  as  the  ; 
reason  why,  in  the  hands  of  commentators  since  St.  Augustine,  \ 
the  Bible  had  been  a  dead  book.  Erasmus  thought,  on  the  \ 
other  hand,  that  the  only  way  to  restore  the  position  of  the  ^ 
Bible  as  a  living  book  was  to  apply  to  it  the  same  method  which  \ 
common  sense  applied  to  all  other  books;  to  resume,  in  fact,  \ 
that  literal  and  historical  method  which  had  been  neglected  j 
since  the  days  of  St.  Jerome,  and  which  Origen  had  so  success-  i 
fully  applied  to  the  story  of  Abraham  in  the  passage  he  had  j 
cited.  It  is  singular  also  that,  in  quoting  from  Origen  this 
example  of  the  skilful  application  of  the  historical  method,  he 
was  quoting  from  the  father  whose  rich  imagination  was  mainly  | 
responsible  for  the  theory  of  "  the  manifold  senses."  \ 

The   adoption   of   the  common-sense  historical  method  of    j 
interpreting  the  Scriptures,  made  it  possible  and  needful  to    ] 
rest  faith  in  Christianity  on  its  own  evidences  rather  than  upon    \ 
the  dogmatic  authority  of  the  Church,  her  fathers,  doctors,   j 
schoolmen,  or  councils.    To  this  Erasmus  seems  to  have  been  | 
fully  alive.     He  was  not  prepared  to  throw  aside  the  authority  | 
of  the  general  consent  of  Christians,  especially  of  the  early   ' 
fathers,  as  a  thing  of  naught,  but  he  was  too  conscious  of  the    ^ 
fallibility  of  all  such  authority  to  rest  wholly  upon  it.     Besides,    { 
one  evident  object  he  had  in  view  was  to  gain  back  again  to   | 
Christianity  those  disciples  of  the  new  learning  who,  in  revulsion 
from  the  Christianity  of  Alexander  VI.,  Caesar  Borgia,  and 
Julius  11. ,  were  trying  to  satisfy  themselves  with  a  refined 
semi-pagan  philosophy.    And  no  ecclesiastical  authority  could 
avail  to  undo  what  ecclesiastical  scandal  had  done  in  that 
quarter. 

The  stress  which  in  this  little  treatise  Erasmus  laid  upon 
internal  evidence  will  be  best  illustrated  by  a  few  examples. 

Take  first  the  following  argument  for  the  truth  of  Christianity. 

He  recommends  the  student  "  attentively  to  observe,  in  both 
New  and  Old  Testaments,  the  wonderful  compass  and  con- 
sistency of  the  whole  story,  if  I  may  so  speak,  of  Christ  becom- 
ing a  man  for  our  sake.    This  will  help  us  not  only  more  rightly 


rsi8]  "  Ratio  Verae  Theologis  *'  281 

to  understand  what  we  read,  but  also  to  read  with  greater 
faith.  For  no  lie  was  ever  framed  with  such  skill  as  in  every- 
thing to  comport  with  itself.  Compare  the  types  and  prophecies 
of  the  Old  Testament  which  foreshadowed  Christ,  and  these 
same  things  happening  as  they  were  revealed  to  the  eye  of  faith. 
Next  to  them  was  the  testimony  of  angels — of  Gabriel  to  the 
Virgin  at  his  conception,  and  again  of  a  choir  of  angels  at  his 
birth.  Then  came  the  testimony  of  the  shepherds,  then  that 
of  the  Magi,  besides  that  of  Simeon  and  Anna.  John  the 
Baptist  foretold  his  coming.  He  pointed  him  out  with  his 
finger  when  he  came  as  he  whose  coming  the  prophets  predicted. 
And  lest  we  should  not  know  what  to  hope  for  from  him,  he 
added, '  Behold  him  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world ! '  .  .  . 
"  Next  observe  the  whole  course  of  his  life,  how  he  grew 
up  to  youth,  always  in  favour  with  both  God  and  man.  ...  At 
twelve  years  of  age,  teaching  and  listening  in  the  temple,  he 
first  gave  a  glimpse  of  what  he  was.  Then  by  his  first  miracle, 
at  the  marriage  feast,  in  private,  he  made  himself  known  to 
a  few.  For  it  was  not  until  after  he  had  been  baptized  and 
commended  by  the  voice  of  his  Father  and  the  sign  of  the  dove; 
lastly,  not  until  after  he  had  been  tried  and  proved  by  the  forty 
days'  fast  and  the  temptation  of  Satan,  that  he  commenced 
the  work  of  preaching.  Mark  his  birth,  education,  preaching, 
death;  you  will  find  nothing  but  a  perfect  example  of  poverty 
and  humility,  yea  of  innocence.  The  whole  range  of  his  doctrine, 
as  it  was  consistent  with  itself,  so  it  was  consistent  with  his  Hfe, 
and  also  consistent  with  his  nature.  He  taught  innocence; 
he  himself  so  lived  that  not  even  suborned  witnesses,  after 
trying  in  many  ways  to  do  so,  could  find  anything  that  could 
plausibly  be  laid  to  his  charge.  He  taught  gentleness :  he  him- 
self was  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter.  He  taught  poverty, 
and  we  do  not  read  that  he  ever  possessed  anything.  He 
warned  against  ambition  and  pride:  he  himself  washed  his 
disciples'  feet.  He  taught  that  this  was  the  way  to  true  glory 
and  immortality:  he  himself,  by  the  ignominy  of  the  cross, 
has  obtained  a  name  which  is  above  every  name;  and  whilst 
he  sought  no  earthly  kingdom,  he  earned  the  empire  both  of 
heaven  and  earth.  When  he  rose  from  the  dead,  he  taught 
what  he  had  taught  before.  He  had  taught  that  death  is  not 
to  be  feared  by  the  good,  and  on  that  account  he  showed  him- 
self risen  again.  In  the  presence  of  the  same  disciples  he 
^  ascended  into  heaven,  that  we  might  know  whither  we  are  to 
I   strive  to  follow.    Lastly,  that  heavenly  Spirit  descended  which 


282  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1518  1 

by  its  inspiration  made  his  apostles  what  Christ  wished  them  to  , 
be.  You  may  perhaps  find  in  the  books  of  Plato  or  Seneca  I 
what  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  teaching  of  Christ;  you  may  i 
find  in  the  life  of  Socrates  some  things  which  are  certainly  i 
consistent  with  the  life  of  Christ;  but  this  wide  range,  and  all ' 
things  belonging  to  it  in  harmonious  agreement  inter  se,  you  will  i 
find  in  Christ  alone.  There  are  many  things  in  the  prophets  : 
both  divinely  said  and  piously  done,  many  things  in  Moses  and  j 
other  men  famous  for  holiness  of  life,  but  this  complete  range  • 
you  will  not  find  in  any  man"  ...  i 

From  this  general  view  of  the  "  wonderful  compass  and  ^ 
consistency  of  the  whole  story"  let  us  pass  with  Erasmus  to! 
details.  We  shall  find  him  following  the  same  method  in  treating  j 
of  each  point,  taking  pains  to  rest  his  belief  rather  on  the  J 
evidence  oi facts  than  upon  mere  dogmatic  authority.  \ 

Thus  in  treating  of  the  "  innocence  of  Christ,"  it  would  have  | 
been  easy  to  have  quoted  a  few  authoritative  passages  from  ] 
the  Apostolic  epistles,  and  to  have  relied  upon  these,  but  \ 
Erasmus  chose  rather  to  rest  on  the  variety  of  evidence  afforded  ! 
by  the  many  different  kinds  of  witnesses  whose  testimony  is  | 
recorded  in  the  New  Testament.  After  alluding  to  the  testi-  | 
mony  of  the  voice  from  heaven,  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  of  j 
the  friends  of  Jesus,  he  thus  proceeds : —  , 

"...  The  men  who  were  sent  to  take  him  bore  witness  thatji 

*  never  man  spake  as  this  man.'  .  .  .  Pilate  also  bore  witness,'; 

*  I  am  pure  from  the  blood  of  this  just  man  ;    see  ye  to  it.'  -j 
Pilate's  wife  also  bore  witness,  *  have  nothing  to  do  with  that  j 
just  person.^   .   .   .   Hostile   judges   recognised  his  innocence,! 
rejecting  the  evidence  of  the  many  witnesses.    They  declared,  j 
and  themselves  were  witnesses,  that  the  suborned  men  lied :  \ 
they  had  nothing  to  object  but  the  saying  about  the  destruction  \ 
and  rebuilding  of  the  temple.  .  .  .  The  wretched  fudas  con- j 
fessed,   '  I   have  sinned,  in   betraying  innocent  blood.'    The  j 
centurion  at  the  cross  confessed, '  truly  this  was  the  Son  of  God.* 
The  wicked  Pharisees  confessed  that  they  had  nothing  to  lay 
to  his  charge  why  he  should  be  crucified,  but  the  saying  about 
the  temple.    Thus  was  he  so  guiltless,  that  nothing  could  even 
be  invented  against  him  with  any  show  of  probability." 

In  the  same  way,  in  order  to  show  that  Christ  was  truly  a 
man,  instead  of  quoting  texts  to  prove  it,  he  pointed  to  the  facts 
"  that  he  called  himself  the  '  Son  of  man;'  that  he  grew  up 
through  the  usual  stages  of  growth;  that  he  slept,  ate,  hungered, 
and  thirsted;  that  he  was  wearied  by  travel;  that  he  was  touched 


i5i8]  "  Ratio  Vers  Theologiae  '*  283 

by  human  passions.  We  read  in  Matthew  that  he  pitied  the 
crowd;  in  Mark,  that  he  was  angry  and  grieved  and  groaned 
in  spirit;  in  John,  that  his  mind  was  moved  before  his  passion; 
that  such  was  his  anguish  in  the  garden  that  his  sweat  was  Hke 
drops  of  blood;  that  he  thirsted  on  the  cross,  which  was  what 
usually  happened  during  crucifixion;  that  he  wept  over  the 
city  of  Jerusalem;  that  he  wept  and  was  moved  at  the  grave 
of  Lazarus." 

And  in  the  same  way  to  prove  Christ's  divinity,  Erasmus 
pointed  to  his  miracles,  and  their  consistency  with  his  own 
declarations.  Again  he  wrote,  "  Who  indeed  would  look  for 
true  salvation  from  a  mere  man?  ...  He  said  that  he  was  sent 
from  heaven,  that  he  was  the  Son  of  God,  that  he  had  been  in 
heaven.  He  called  God  his  Father;  and  the  Jews  understood 
what  he  meant  by  it,  for  they  said,  *  Thou,  a  man,  makest 
thyself  God.'  Lastly,  he  rose  from  the  dead,  ascended  into 
heaven,  and  sent  down  the  Paraclete,  by  whom  the  Apostles 
were  suddenly  refreshed."  ^ 

Another  subject  upon  which  Erasmus  dwelt  was  "  the  way 
which  was  adopted  by  Christ  to  draw  the  world  under  his 
influence."  He  showed  how  the  prophets  and  the  preaching 
of  John  had  prepared  the  way  for  him.  "  He  did  not  seek 
suddenly  to  change  the  world ;  for  it  is  difficult  to  remove  from 
men's  minds  what  they  have  imbibed  in  childhood,  and  what 
has  been  handed  down  to  them  by  common  consent  from  their 
ancestors.  First,  John  went  before  with  the  baptism  of  re- 
pentance; then  the  Apostles  went  forth,  not  yet  announcing 
the  coming  Messiah,  but  only  that  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was 
at  hand.  By  means  of  poor  and  unlearned  men  the  thing 
began,  .  .  .  and  for  a  long  while  he  bore  with  the  rudeness  and 
distrust  of  even  these,  that  they  might  not  seem  to  have  believed 
rashly.  Thomas  pertinaciously  disbelieved,  and  not  until  he 
had  touched  the  marks  of  the  nails  and  the  spear  did  he  exclaim, 
'  My  Lord  and  my  God ! '  When  about  to  ascend  to  heaven,  he 
upbraided  all  of  them  for  their  hardness  of  heart  and  difficulty 
in  believing  what  they  had  seen.  ...  He  added  the  evidence 
of  miracles,  but  even  these  were  nothing  but  acts  of  kindness. 
He  never  worked  a  miracle  for  any  one  who  had  not  faith.  The 
crowd  were  witnesses  of  nearly  all  he  did.  He  sent  the  lepers 
to  the  priests,  not  that  they  might  be  healed,  but  that  it  might 
be  more  clearly  known  that  they  were  healed.  .  .  .  And  for 
all  the  benefits  he  rendered,  he  never  once  took  any  reward, 
^  These  passages  are  abridged  in  the  translation. 


284 


I] 
The  Oxford  Reformers  [i5ia| 


nor  glory,  nor  money;  nor  pleasure,  nor  rule,  so  that  the  suspicionji 
of  a  corrupt  motive  might  not  be  imputed  to  him.  And  it  wad 
not  till  after  the  Holy  Spirit  had  been  sent  that  the  Gospel 
trumpet  was  sounded  through  the  whole  world,  lest  it  shoulck 
seem  that  he  had  sought  anything  for  himself  while  alive.  More-4 
over,  there  is  no  testimony  held  more  efficacious  amongst  mortalsy 
than  blood.  By  his  own  death,  and  that  of  his  disciples,  he  set^ 
a  seal  to  the  truth  of  his  teaching.  I  have  already  alluded  taj 
the  consistency  of  his  whole  life."  j 

These  passages  v/ill  serve  as  examples  of  the  means  by  whichj 
in  this  treatise,  Erasmus  sought  to  bring  out  the  facts  of  the! 
life  of  Christ  as  the  true  foundation  of  the  Christian  faith;' 
instead    of   the   dogmas    of   scholastic    theology.     After   thus,; 
thoughtfully  dwelling  upon  the  facts  of  the  life  of  Christ,  h.6\ 
proceeds  to  examine  his  teaching,  and  he  concludes  that  there^j 
were  two  things  which  he  peculiarly  and  perpetually  inculcated) 
— faith^and  love — and,  after  describing  them  more  at  length,  hei 
jvTJteSjj*'  Read  the  New  Testament  through,  you  will  not  findj! 
in  it  any  precept  which  pertains  to  ceremonies.     Where  is  ther^' 
a  single  word  of  meats  or  vestments?    Where  is  there  an^ 
mention  of  fasts  and  the  like  ?    Love  alone  He  calls  His  precept| 
Ceremonies  give  rise  to  differences ;  from  love  flows  peace. 
And  yet  we  burden  those  who  have  been  made  free  by  the  blooc 
of  Christ  with  all  these  almost  senseless  and  more  than  Jewisl 
constitutions!"  •/c-^^'v      ,. 

Finally,  turning  from  the  New  Testament  and  its  theology  tcij 
the  Schoolmen  and  theirs,  he  exclaimed,  "  What  a  spectacle  il! 
is  to  see  a  divine  of  eighty  years  old  knowing  nothing  but  merd| 
sophisms !  "  and  ended  with  the  sentences  which  have  already^] 
been  quoted  as  the  conclusion  of  the  shorter  treatise  prefixed  tofj 
the  Novum  Instrujnentum. 

This  somewhat  lengthy  examination  of  "  the  method  of  true 
theology  "  will  not  have  been  fruitless,  if  it  should  place  beyonc 
dispute  what  was  pointed  out  with  reference  to  the  Novur 
Instrumentum,  that  its  value  lay  more  in  its  prefaces,  and 
main  drift  and  spirit  as  a  whole,  than  in  the  critical  exactness  oi 
its  Greek  text  or  the  correctness  of  its  readings.  If  it  could  b( 
said  of  the  Novum  Instrumenttim  that  much  of  its  value  lay  in  it$ 
preface — in  its  beautiful  "  Paraclesis  " — it  may  also  be  said  that 
the  importance  of  the  second  edition  wag~g:reatly  enhanced  by 
the  addition  of  thej'  Ratio  Verse  Theologiae."     ^'  I 

And  as,  like  its  forerunner,  this  second  edition  went  fortW 
under  the  shield  of  Leo  X.'s  approval,  with  the  additionall 


i5i8]        Return  of  Erasmus  to  Louvain       285 

sanction  of  the  Archbishops  of  Basle  and  of  Canterbury,  and 
with  all  the  prestige  of  former  success,  it  must  have  been  felt  to 
be  not  only  a  firm  and  dignified,  but  also  a  triumphant  reply  to 
the  various  attacks  which  had  been  made  upon  Erasmus — a  reply 
more  powerful  than  the  keenest  satire  or  the  most  bitter  in- 
vective could  have  been — a  reply  in  which  the  honest  dissentient 
found  a  calm  restatement  of  what  perhaps  he  had  only  half 
comprehended;  the  candid  critic,  the  errors  of  which  he  com- 
plained corrected ;  and  the  blind  bigot,  the  luxury  of  something 
further  to  denounce.^ 


III.  Erasmus's  health  gives  way  (15 18) 

After  several  months'  hard  and  close  labour  in  Froben's  office 
in  the  autumn  of  15 18,  Erasmus  left  Basle,  jaded  and  in  poor 
health.  As  he  proceeded  on  his  journey  to  Louvain  his  maladies 
increased.  Carbuncles  made  their  appearance,  and  added  to 
the  pains  of  travel.  He  reached  Louvain  thoroughly  ill;  and 
turned  into  the  house  of  the  hospitable  printer,  Thierry  Martins, 
almost  exhausted.  A  physician  was  sent  for.  He  told  Martins 
and  his  wife  that  Erasmus  had  the  plague,  and  never  came  again 
for  fear  of  contagion.  Another  was  sent  for,  but  he  likewise  did 
not  repeat  his  visit.  A  third  came,  and  pronounced  it  not  to  be 
the  plague.  A  fourth,  at  the  first  mention  of  ulcers,  was  seized 
with  fear,  and  though  he  promised  to  call  again,  sent  his  servant 
instead.  And  thus  for  weeks  lay  Erasmus,  ill  and  neglected  by 
the  doctors,  in  the  house  of  the  good  printer  at  Louvain. 

Some  monks  were  drinking  together  at  Cologne,  a  city  where 
Erasmus  had  many  bigoted  enemies.  One  of  the  fraternity  of 
preaching  friars  brought  to  them  the  news  that  Erasmus  was 
dead  at  Louvain !  The  intelhgence  was  received  with  applause 
by  the  convivial  monks,  and  again  and  again  was  the  applause 
repeated,  when  the  preacher  added,  in  his  monkish  Latin,  that 
Erasmus  had  died,  like  a  heretic  as  he  was,  sine  lux,  sine  crux, 
sine  Deus. 

^  When,  after  the  3rd  edition  had  been  published  and  a  4th  was  in 
preparation,  in  1526,  a  Doctor  of  the  Sorbonne  attacked  the  New  Testa- 
ment of  Erasmus,  he  was  able  triumphantly  to  ask  him,  "  what  he  wanted?  " 
His  New  Testament  had  already  been  "  scattered  abroad  by  the  printers 
in  thousands  of  copies  over  and  over  again."  His  critic  "  shoiild  have  written 
in  time  ! " — Erasmus  to  the  Faculty  of  Paris.  Jortin,  ii.  App.  No.  xlix. 
p.  492. 


286  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1518 


CHAPTER  XVI  j 

I.   ERASMUS  DOES  NOT  DIE  (1518)  I 

The  monks  of  Cologne  were  disappointed.  Erasmus  did  not  \ 
die.  His  illness  turned  out  not  to  be  the  plague.  After  four  i 
weeks'  nursing  at  the  good  printer's  house,  he  was  well  enough  i 
to  be  removed  to  his  own  lodgings  within  the  precincts  of  the  \ 
•college.    Thence  he  wrote  to  Beatus  Rhenanus  in  these  words : —  ; 

:i 
Erasmus  to  Beatus  Rhenanus  j 


'  My  dear  Beatus, — Who  would  have  believed  that  this  frail  ■ 

dehcate  body,  now  weaker  from  increasing  age,  after  the  toils  ! 

•of  so  many  journeys,  after  the  labours  of  so  many  studies,  should  i 

have  survived  such  an  illness?    You  know  how  hard  I  had  : 

been  working  at  Basle  just  before.  ...  A  suspicion  had  crossed  \ 

my  mind  that  this  year  would  prove  fatal  to  me,  one  malady  j 

succeeded  so  rapidly  upon  another,  and  each  worse  than  the  one  ', 

which  preceded  it.    When  the  disease  was  at  its  height,  I  neither  t 

felt  distressed  with  desire  of  life,  nor  did  I  tremble  at  the  fear  \ 

of  death.    All  my  hope  was  in  Christ  alone,  and  I  prayed  for  i 
nothing  to  him  except  that  he  would  do  what  he  thought  best 

for  me.    Formerly,  when  a  youth,  I  remember  I  used  to  tremble  j 
at  the  very  name  of  death !  .  .  ." 


Had  Erasmus  fallen  a  victim  to  the  plague  and  died  at  the 
fiouse  of  Martins  the  printer,  as  the  friar  had  reported,  and  the 
<:onvivial  monks  had  too  readily  believed,  it  does  not  seem  likely 
that  his  death  would  have  been  as  dark  and  godless  as  they 
fancied  it  might  have  been.  As  it  was,  instead  of  dying  without 
lighted  tapers  and  crucifix  and  transubstantiated  wafer,  or,  in 
monkish  jargon,  sine  lux,  sine  crux,  sine  Deus,  their  enemy  still 
lived,  and  the  disappointed  monks,  instead  of  ill-concealed 
rejoicings  over  his  death,  were  obliged  to  content  themselves  for 
many  years  to  come  with  muttering  in  quite  another  tone,  "  It 
were  good  for  that  man  if  he  had  never  been  born." 


isi8]  More  at  Court  287 


II.    MORE  AT   THE   COURT   OF   HENRY   VIII.   (1518) 

While  the  plague  had  been  raging  in  Germany,  the  sweating 
sickness  had  been  continuing  its  ravages  in  England.  Before 
More  left  for  Calais  it  had  struck  down,  after  a  few  days'  ilhiess, 
Ammonius,  with  whom  Erasmus  and  More  had  long  enjoyed 
intimate  friendship.  Wolsey  also  had  narrowly  escaped  with 
his  life,  after  repeated  attacks.  When  More  returned  from  the 
embassy  he  found  the  sickness  still  raging.  In  the  spring  of 
151 8  the  court  was  removed  to  Abingdon,  to  escape  the  contagion 
of  the  great  city;  and  whilst  there.  More,  who  now  was  obliged 
to  follow  the  King  wherever  he  might  go,  had  to  busy  himself 
with  precautionary  measures  to  prevent  its  spread  in  Oxford, 
where  it  had  made  its  appearance. 

Whilst  at  Abingdon,  he  was  called  upon,  also,  to  interfere 
with  his  influence  to  quiet  a  foolish  excitement  which  had  seized 
the  students  at  Oxford.  It  was  not  the  spread  of  the  sweating 
sickness  which  had  caused  their  alarm;  but  the  increasing  taste 
for  the  study  of  Greek  had  roused  the  fears  of  divines  of  the  old 
school.  The  enemies  of  the  "  new  learning  "  had  raised  a  faction 
against  it.  The  students  had  taken  sides,  calling  themselves 
Greeks  and  Trojans,  and,  not  content  with  wordy  warfare,  they 
had  come  to  open  and  public  insult.  At  length,  the  most 
virulent  abuse  had  been  poured  upon  the  Greek  language  and 
literature,  even  from  the  university  pulpit,  by  an  impudent  and 
ignorant  preacher.  He  had  denounced  all  who  favoured  Greek 
studies  as  "heretics;"  in  his  coarse  phraseology,  those  who 
taught  the  obnoxious  language  were  diabolos  maxhnos  and  its 
students  diabolos  minutulos. 

More,  upon  hearing  what  had  been  passing,  wrote  a  letter  of 
indignant  but  respectful  remonstrance  to  the  university  authori- 
ties. He  and  Pace  interested  the  King  also  in  the  affair,  and  at 
their  suggestion  he  took  occasion  to  express  his  royal  pleasure 
that  the  students  "would  do  well  to  devote  themselves  with 
energy  and  spirit  to  the  study  of  Greek  literature;  "  and  so, 
says  Erasmus,  "  silence  was  imposed  upon  these  brawlers." 

On  another  occasion  the  King  and  his  courtiers  had  attended 
Divine  service.  The  court  preacher  had,  like  the  Oxford  divine, 
indulged  in  abuse  of  Greek  literature  and  the  modern  school  of 
interpretation — having  Erasmus  and  his  New  Testament  in  his 
eye.  Pace  looked  at  the  King  to  see  what  he  thought  of  it.  The 
King  answered  his  look  with  a  satirical  smile.    After  the  sermon 


288  The  Oxford  Reformers  [isis 

the  divine  was  ordered  to  attend  upon  the  King.    It  was  arranged 
that  More  should  reply  to  the  arguments  he  had  urged  against 
Greek  literature.    After  he  had  done  so,  the  divine,  instead  of 
replying  to  his  arguments,  dropped  down  on  his  knees  before 
the  King,  and  simply  prayed  for  forgiveness,  urging,  however, ; 
by  way  of  extenuating  his  fault,  that  he  was  carried  away  by  i 
the  spirit  in  his  sermon  when  he  poured  forth  all  this  abuse  of  \ 
the  Greek  language.     "But,"  the  King  here  observed,  "that I 
spirit  was  not  the  spirit  of  Christ,  but  the  spirit  oi  foolishness.''^  \ 
He  then  asked  the  preacher  what  works  of  Erasmus  he  had  read.  ■ 
He  had  not  read  any.     "  Then,"  said  the  King,  "  you  prove  | 
yourself  to  be  a  fool,  for  you  condemn  what  you  have  never : 
read."     "  I  read  once,"  repHed  the  divine,  "  a  thing  called  the  ; 
MoriaJ'  .  .  .  Pace  here  suggested  that  there  was  a  decided  j 
congruity  between  that  and  the  preacher.    And  finally  the  i 
preacher  himself  relented  so  far  as  to  admit: — "  After  all  I  am  | 
not  so  very  hostile  to  Greek  letters,  because  they  were  derived  \ 
from  the  Hebrew."    The  King,  wondering  at  the  distinguished 
folly  of  the  man,  bade  him  retire,  but  with  strict  injunctions  I 
never  again  to  preach  at  Court!  i 

So  far,  then,  from  More's  new  position  having  extinguished  ] 
his  own  opinions  or  changed  his  views,  he  had  the  satisfaction  of 
being  able  now  and  then  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  "  new 
learning,"  and  to  act  the  part  of  its  "  friend  at  court." 

III.   THE  EVENING   OF   COLET'S   LIFE  (1518-I9) 

The  sweating  sickness  continued  its  ravages  in  England, 
striking  down  one  here  and  another  there  with  merciless  rapidity. 
It  was  generally  fatal  on  the  first  day.    If  the  patient  survived 
twenty-four  hours  he  was  looked  upon  as  out  of  danger.     But  it  I 
was  liable  to  recur,  and  sometimes  attacked  the  same  person 
four  times  in  succession.     This  was  the  case  with  Cardinal  j 
Wolsey;   whilst  several  of  the  royal  retinue  were  attacked  and  j 
carried  off  at  once,  Wolsey's  strong  constitution  carried  him  j 
through  four  successive  attacks.^  | 

During  the  period  of  its  ravages  Colet  was  three  times  attacked  j 
by  it  and  survived,  but  with  a  constitution  so  shattered  and  | 
with  symptoms  so  premonitory  of  consumptive  tendencies,  as  | 
to  suggest  to  him  that  the  time  might  not  be  far  distant  when  he  j 
too  must  follow  after  his  twenty-one  brothers  and  sisters,  and  j 
leave  his  aged  mother  the  survivor  of  all  her  children.  ! 

1  Four  Years  at  the  Court  of  Henry  VIII.,  ii.  p.  127.  \ 

\ 


i5i8]  Colet  in  Retirement  289 

Meanwhile  an  accidental  ray  of  light  falls  here  and  there  upon 
the  otherwise  obscure  life  of  Colet  during  these  years  of  peril, 
revealing  little  pictures,  too  beautiful  in  their  simple  consistency 
with  all  else  we  know  of  him  to  be  passed  by  unheeded. 

The  first  glimpse  we  get  of  Colet  reveals  him  engaged  in  the 
careful  and  final  completion  of  the  rules  and  statutes  by  which 
his  school  was  to  be  governed  after  his  own  death.  Having 
spent  a  good  part  of  his  life  and  his  fortune  in  the  foundation  of 
this  school,  as  the  best  means  of  promoting  the  cause  which  he 
had  so  deeply  at  heart,  one  might  have  expected  that  he  would 
have  tried,  in  fixing  his  statutes,  to  give  permanence  and  per- 
petuity to  his  own  views.  This  is  what  most  people  try  to  do 
by  endowments  of  this  kind. 

No  sooner  do  most  reformers  clear  away  a  little  ground,  and 
discover  what  they  take  to  be  truths,  than  they  attempt,  by 
organising  a  sect,  founding  endowments,  and  framing  articles 
and  trust-deeds,  to  secure  the  permanent  tradition  of  their  own 
views  to  posterity  in  the  form  in  which  they  are  apprehended 
by  themselves.  Hence,  in  the  very  act  of  striking  off  the  fetters 
of  the  past,  they  are  often  forging  the  fetters  of  the  future. 
Even  the  Protestant  Reformers,  whilst  on  the  one  hand  bravely 
breaking  the  yoke  under  which  their  ancestors  had  lived  in 
bondage,  ended  by  fixing  another  on  the  neck  of  their  posterity. 
Those  who  remained  in  the  old  bondage  found  themselves,  as 
the  result  of  the  Reformation,  bound  still  tighter  under  Triden- 
tine  decrees:  whilst  those  who  had  joined  the  exodus,  and 
entered  the  promised  land  of  the  Reformers,  found  it  to  be  a 
land  of  almost  narrower  boundaries  than  the  one  they  had  left. 
Freed  from  Papal  thraldom  it  might  be,  but. bound  down  by 
Augustinian  theology  as  rigid  and  dogmatic  as  that  from  which 
they  had  escaped. 

If  Colet  did  not  do  likewise,  he  resisted  with  singular  wisdom 
and  success  a  temptation  which  besets  every  one  under  his 
circumstances.  That  Colet  strove  to  found  no  sect  of  his  own 
has  already  been  seen.  If  the  movement  which  he  had  done 
so  much  to  set  agoing  had  produced  its  fruits — if  a  school  or 
party  had  been  the  result — he  had  not  called  it,  or  felt  it  to  be, 
in  any  way  his  own  ;  he  might  call  it  ''  Erasmican  "  in  joke, 
and  leave  Erasmus  indignantly  to  repudiate  "  that  name  of 
division;  "  but  Erasmus  expressed  the  view  of  Colet  as  well  as 
his  own  when  he  said  to  the  abbot,  "  Why  should  we  try  to 
narrow  what  Christ  intended  to  be  broad?  " 

Perfectly  consistent  with  this  feeling,  Colet  did  not  now  show 

K 


290  The  Oxford  Reformers  [151^ 

any  anxiety  to  perpetuate  his  own  particular  views  by  means 
of  the  power  which,  as  the  founder  of  the  endowment,  he  had  a 
perfect  right  to  exercise.  The  truth  was,  I  think,  that  he  retained 
the  spirit  of  free  inquiry — the  mind  open  to  light  from  whatever 
direction — to  the  last,  in  full  faith  that  the  facts  of  Christianity — 
in  so  far  as  they  are  facts — must  have  everything  to  gain  and 
nothing  to  lose  from  the  discovery  of  other  facts  in  other  fields 
of  knowledge.  As  I  have  before  pointed  out,  the  Oxford 
Reformers  felt  that  they  were  living  in  an  age  of  discovery  and 
progress;  they  never  dreamed  that  they  had  reached  finality 
either  in  knowledge  or  creed ;  it  would  have  been  a  sad  blow  to 
their  hopes  if  they  had  been  told  that  they  had.  They  took  a 
humble  view  of  their  own  attainments,  and  had  faith  in  the 
future. 

In  this  spirit  do  we  find  Colet  in  these  days  of  peril  from  the 
sweating  sickness,  and  conscious  that  his  shattered  health  must 
soon  give  way,  settHng  the  statutes  of  his  school  with  a  wisdom 
seldom  surpassed  even  in  more  modern  times. 

First,  with  great  practical  shrewdness,  instead  of  putting 
his  school  under  the  charge  of  ecclesiastics  or  clergymen,  he 
entrusted  it  entirely  "  to  the  most  honest  and  faithful  fellowship 
of  the  Mercers  of  London."  As  Erasmus  expressed  it,  "  of  the 
whole  concern,  he  set  in  charge,  not  a  bishop,  not  a  chapter, 
not  dignitaries,  but  married  citizens  of  established  reputation." 
Time  had  been  when  Colet  had  regarded  "  marriage  "  as  ahnost 
an  unholy  thing.  But  he  had  seen  much  both  of  the  church 
and  the  world  since  then;  and  as  perhaps  his  faith  in  Dionysian 
speculations  had  lessened,  his  English  common  sense  had  more 
and  more  asserted  its  own.  He  had,  as  already  mentioned, 
wisely  advised  Thomas  More  to  marry.  In  his  Right  fruitful 
Admonition  concerning  the  Order  of  a  good  Christian  Man's  Life, 
from  which  I  have  quoted  before,  he  had  said,  "  If  thou  intend 
to  marry,  or  be  married,  and  hast  a  good  wife,  thank  our  Lord 
therefor,  for  she  is  of  his  sending."  So  now  he  entrusted  his 
school  to  "married  citizens;"  and  Erasmus  adds,  "when  he 
was  asked  the  reason,  he  said,  that  nothing  indeed  is  certain  in 
human  affairs,  but  that  yet  amongst  these  he  had  found  the  least 
corruption.  ...  He  used  to  declare  that  he  had  nowhere  found 
less  corrupt  morals  than  among  married  people,  because  natural 
affection,  the  care  of  their  children,  and  domestic  duties,  are 
like  so  many  rails  which  keep  them  from  sliding  into  all  kinds  of 
vice." 

In  defining  the  duties  and  salaries  of  the  masters  of  his  school. 


i5i8]  Colet  in  Retirement  291 

he  provided  expressly  that  they  might  be  married  men  (and 
those  chosen  by  him  actually  were  so);^  but  they  were  to  hold 
their  office  "in  no  rome  of  continuance  and  perpetuity,  but 
upon  their  duty  in  the  school."  The  chaplain  was  to  be 
"  some  good,  honest,  and  virtuous  man,  and  to  help  to  teach 
in  the  school." 

Respecting  the  children  he  expressed  his  desire  to  be  that 
they  should  not  be  received  into  the  school  until  they  could 
read  and  write  fairly,  and  explained  "  what  they  shall  be 
taught  "  in  general  terms;  "  for,"  said  he,  "  it  passeth  my  wit 
to  devise  and  determine  in  particular." 

Then,  last  of  all,  he  added  the  following  clause,  headed, 
"  Liberty  to  Declare  the  Statutes  ": — 

"  And  notwithstanding  these  statutes  and  ordinances  before 
written,  in  which  I  have  declared  my  mind  and  will;  yet 
because  in  time  to  come  many  things  may  and  shall  survive 
and  grow  by  many  occasions  and  causes  which  at  the  making 
of  this  book  was  not  possible  to  come  to  mind;  in  consideration 
of  the  assured  truth  and  circumspect  wisdom  and  faithful 
goodness  of  the  most  honest  and  substantial  fellowship  of  the 
Mercery  of  London,  to  whom  I  have  committed  all  the  care  of 
the  school,  and  trusting  in  their  fidelity  and  love  that  they 
have  to  God  and  man  and  to  the  school;  and  also  believing 
verily  that  they  shall  always  dread  the  great  wrath  of  God: — 
Both  all  this  that  is  said,  and  all  that  is  not  said,  which  hereafter 
shall  come  into  my  mind  while  I  live  to  be  said,  I  leave  it  wholly  ia 
their  discretion  and  charity :  I  mean  of  the  wardens  and  assistances 
of  the  fellowship,  with  such  other  counsel  as  they  shall  call  unto 
them — good  lettered  and  learned  men — they  to  add  and  diminish 
of  this  book  and  to  supply  it  in  every  default;  and  also  to  declare 
in  it  every  obscurity  and  darkness  as  time  and  place  and  just 
occasion  shall  require;  calling  the  dreadful  God  to  look  upon 
them  in  all  such  business,  and  exhorting  them  to  fear  the  terrible 
judgment  of  God,  which  seeth  in  darkness,  and  shall  render  to 
every  man  according  to  his  works;  and  finally,  praying  the 
great  Lord  of  mercy,  for  their  faithful  deaHng  in  this  matter, 
now  and  always  to  send  unto  them  in  this  world  much  wealth 
and  prosperity,  and  after  this  life  much  joy  and  glory." 

^  William  Lilly  was  married  and  had  several  children.  The  sur-master, 
John  Rightwyse,  married  his  daughter.  Mr.  Lupton  informs  me  that  in 
vol.  iv.  of  Stow's  Historical  Colleciions  (Harleian,  No.  450),  fol.  58  b,  is  a 
Latin  epitaph,  in  ten  lines,  by  Lilly  on  his  wife.  Her  name  is  spelt 
"  Hagnes,"  and  (if  the  reading  be  correct)  they  appear  to  have  had  fifteen 
children. 


292  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1518 

This  done,  he  wrote  in  the  Book  of  Statutes  the  following 
memorandum: — "This  book  I,  John  Colet,  delivered  into  the 
hands  of  Master  Lilly  the  i8th  day  of  June  15 18,  that  he  may 
keep  it  and  observe  it  in  the  school."  ^ 

Having  completed  the  statutes  of  his  school,  Colet  turned  his 
attention  to  a  few  other  final  arrangements,  including  certain 
reforms  in  the  church  of  St.  Paul's.^  He  had  already  prepared 
a  simple  tomb  for  himself  at  the  side  of  the  choir  of  the  great 
cathedral  with  which  his  labours  had  been  so  closely  connected, 
and  the  simple  inscription,  "  Johannes  Coletus,"  was  already 
carved  on  the  plain  monumental  stone  which  was  to  cover  his 
grave.  Thus  he  was  ready  to  depart  whenever  the  summons 
should  arrive.     But  the  pale  messenger  came  not  yet. 

Meanwhile  Colet  retained  his  interest  in  passing  events.  If 
he  seemed  to  take  little  part  in  public  affairs,  it  was  not  owing 
to  his  want  of  interest  in  them.  It  would  almost  seem  that  he 
sympathised  much  during  this  quiet  season  with  Luther's  attack 
upon  Indulgences,  and  was  a  reader  of  those  of  his  works — 
chiefly  pamphlets — which  had  reached  England.  This,  how- 
ever, rests  only  upon  the  remark  of  Erasmus,  that  he  was  in 
the  habit  of  reading  heretical  books,  declaring  that  he  often 
got  more  good  from  them  than  from  the  Schoolmen;  and  the 
further  statement  made  incidentally  by  Erasmus  to  Luther, 
that  there  were  in  England  some  men  in  the  highest  position 
who  thought  well  of  his  works.  His  close  retirement  may  be 
accounted  for  as  well  by  his  shattered  health  as  by  the  circum- 
stance that  Bishop  Fitzjames  still  lived  in  his  grey  hairs  to 
harass  him. 

It  was  probably  to  secure  a  safe  retreat  in  emergency  beyond 
the  jurisdiction  of  this  bigoted  bishop  that  Colet  was  building 
his  "  nest,"  as  he  called  it,  within  the  precincts  of  the  Charter- 
house— not  in  London,  but  at  Sheen,  near  Richmond.  Whether 
he  ever  really  entered  this  "  nest,"  so  long  in  course  of  prepara- 
tion, does  not  appear.     Perhaps  there  was  no  need  for  it. 

Little  as  of  late  he  had  mixed  himself  up  with  public  affairs, 
he  was  still  looked  up  to  by  those  who,  through  the  report  of 
Erasmus,  recognised  his  almost  apostolic  piety  and  wisdom. 
Thus,  in  his  quiet  retirement,  he  received  a  letter  from  Marquard 
Ton  Hatstein,  one  of  the  canons  of  Maintz,  a  connection  of 

1  The  original  of  this  book  with  Colet's  signature  is  still  preserved  at 
the  Mercers'  Hall. 

*  Knight,  p.  227.  He  drew  up  a  body  of  statutes,  which,  however, 
were  never  accepted  by  the  chapter. — Milman's  Annals  of  St.  Paul's,  p.  124. 


i5i8]  Colet  in  Retirement  293 

Ulrich  von  Hutten's^  mentioned  by  Erasmus  as  "  a  most  excel- 
lent young  man;  "  one  of  the  little  group  of  men  who,  under  the 
lead  of  the  Archbishop  of  Maintz,  had  boldly  taken  the  side  of 
Reuchlin  against  his  persecutors — a  letter  which  shows  so  true 
an  appreciation  of  Colet's  character  and  relation  to  the  move- 
ment which  was  now  known  as  "  Erasmian/'  that  it  must  have 
been  exceedingly  grateful  to  the  feelings  of  Colet,  now  that  he 
had  set  his  house  in  order,  and  was  ready  to  leave  in  other 
hands  the  work  which  he  himself  had  commenced. 

Marquard  von  Hatstein  to  John  Colet 

"  I  have  often  thought  with  admiration  of  your  blessedness, 
who  born  to  wealth  and  of  so  illustrious  a  family  have  added  to 
these  gifts  of  fortune  manners  and  intellectual  culture  abun- 
dantly corresponding  therewith.  For  such  is  your  learning, 
piety,  and  manner  of  life,  such  lastly  your  Christian  constancy, 
that  notwithstanding  all  these  gifts  of  fortune,  you  seem  to 
care  for  little  but  that  you  may  run  in  the  path  of  Christ  in  so 
noble  a  spirit,  that  you  are  not  surpassed  by  any  even  of  those 
who  call  themselves  '  mendicants.'  For  they  in  many  things 
simulate  and  dissimulate  for  the  sake  of  sensual  pleasures. 

"  When  recently  the  trumpet  of  cruel  war  sounded  so  terribly, 
how  did  you  hold  up  against  it  the  image  of  Christ !  the  olive- 
branch  of  peace !  You  exhorted  us  to  tolerance,  to  concord,  to 
the  yielding  up  of  our  goods  for  the  good  of  a  brother,  instead 
of  invading  one  another's  rights.  You  told  us  that  there  was 
no  cause  of  war  between  Christians,  who  are  bound  together  by 
holy  ties  in  a  love  more  than  fraternal.  And  many  other  things 
of  a  like  nature  did  you  urge,  with  so  great  authority,  that  I  may 
truly  say  that  the  virtue  of  Christ  thus  set  forth  by  Colet  was 
seen  from  afar.  And  thus  did  you  discomfit  the  dark  designs 
of  your  enemies.  Men  raging  against  the  truth,  you  conquered 
with  the  mildness  of  an  apostle.  You  opposed  your  gentleness 
to  their  insane  violence.  Through  your  innocence  you  escaped 
from  any  harm,  even  though  by  their  numbers  (for  there  is 
always  the  most  abundant  crop  of  what  is  bad)  they  were  able 
to  override  your  better  opinion.  With  a  skill  like  that  with 
which  Homer  published  the  praises  of  Achilles,  Erasmus  has 
studiously  held  up  to  the  admiration  of  the  world  and  of  pos- 
terity the  name  of  England,  and  especially  of  Colet,  whom  he 
has  so  described  that  there  is  not  a  good  man  of  any  nation  who 
does  not  honour  you.     I  seem  to  myself  to  see  that  each  of  you 


294  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1519 

owes  much  to  the  other,  but  which  of  the  two  owes  most  to  the 
other  I  am  doubtful.  For  he  must  have  received  good  from  you  : 
seeing  that  you  are  hardly  likely  to  have  been  magnified  by 
his  colouring  pen.  You,  however,  if  I  may  freely  say  what  I 
think,  do  seem  to  owe  some  thanks  to  him  for  making  publicly 
known  those  virtues  which  before  were  unknown  to  us.  Still  I 
fancy  you  are  not  the  less  victor  in  the  matter  of  benefits  con- 
ferred, since  you  have  blessed  Erasmus,  a  stranger  to  England, 
otherwise  an  incomparable  man,  with  so  many  friends — Mount- 
joy,  More,  Linacre,  Tunstal,  etc.  ... 

''  Having  commenced  my  theological  studies,  I  have  learned 
from  the  conversation  and  writings  of  Erasmus  to  regard  you 
as  my  exemplar.  I  wish  I  could  really  follow  you  as  closely 
as  I  long  to  do.  I  long,  not  only  to  improve  myself  in  letters, 
but  to  lead  a  holier  life.  Farewell  in  Christ.  VI.  Cal.  Maii, 
Anno  MDXX."  (should  be  probably  1519).-^ 


IV.  more's  conversion  attempted  by  the  monks  (1519) 

Erasmus  was  as  much  hated  by  the  monks  in  England  as 
by  the  monks  at  Cologne;  but  they  found  their  attempts  to 
stir  up  ill-feeling  against  him  checkmated  by  the  influence  of 
More  and  his  friends. 

More's  father  was  known  to  be  a  good  Catholic,  and  probably 
to  belong,  as  an  old  man  with  conservative  tendencies  was 
likely  to  do,  to  the  orthodox  party.  He  himself  was  now  too 
near  the  royal  ear  to  be  a  harmless  adherent  of  the  new 
learning — as  they  had  learned  to  their  cost  before  now.  He 
was  so  popular,  too,  with  all  parties.  If  only  he  could  be 
detached  from  Erasmus  and  brought  over  to  their  own  side, 
what  a  triumph  it  would  be ! 

So  an  anonymous  letter  was  written  by  a  monk  to  More, 
expressing  great  solicitude  for  his  welfare,  and  fears  lest  he 
should  be  corrupted  by  too  great  intimacy  with  Erasmus; 
lest  he  should  be  led  astray,  by  too  great  love  of  his  writings, 
into  the  adoption  of  his  new  and  foreign  doctrines ! 

The  good  monk  was  particularly  shocked  at  the  hints  thrown 
out  by  Erasmus  in  his  writings,  that,  after  all,  the  holy  doctors 
and  fathers  of  the  church  were  fallible. 

^  This  letter  possibly  may  not  have  reached  England  before  Colet's 
death ;  but  it  is  most  likely  that  the  date  is  wrong,  as  so  often  is  the  case 
with  these  letters — the  year  not  being  often  added  by  the  writer  himself 
at  the  time,  but  by  some  copyist  subsequently. 


I5I9]  More  and  the  Monks  295 

He  took  up  the  vulgar  objections  which  the  letter  of  Dorpius, 
-and  a  still  more  recent  attack  upon  Erasmus,  by  an  Englishman 
named  Edward  Lee,  had  put  into  every  one's  mouth,  and  tried 
to  persuade  More  to  be  wise  in  time,  lest  he  should  become 
infected  with  the  Erasmian  poison. 

More's  letter  in  reply  to  the  over-anxious  monk  has  been 
preserved. 

He  indignantly  repelled  the  insinuation  that  he  was  in  danger 
of  contamination  from  his  intimacy  with  Erasmus,  whose  New 
Testament  the  very  Pope  had  sanctioned,  who  lived  in  the 
nearest  intimacy  with  such  men  as  Colet,  Fisher,  and  Warham; 
to  say  nothing  of  Mount  joy,  Tunstal,  Pace,  and  Grocyn.  Those 
who  knew  Erasmus  best,  loved  him  most. 

Then  turning  to  the  charge  made  against  Erasmus,  that  he 
denied  the  infallibility  of  the  fathers.  More  wrote: — 

"  Do  you  deny  that  they  ever  made  mistakes?  I  put  it  to 
you — ^when  Augustine  thought  that  Jerome  had  mistranslated 
a  passage,  and  Jerome  defended  what  he  had  done,  was  not 
one  of  the  two  mistaken?  When  Augustine  asserted  that  the 
Septuagint  is  to  be  taken  as  an  indubitably  faithful  translation, 
and  Jerome  denied  it,  and  asserted  that  its  translators  had 
fallen  into  errors,  was  not  one  of  the  two  mistaken?  When 
Augustine,  in  support  of  his  view,  adduced  the  story  of  the 
wonderful  agreement  of  the  different  translations  produced  by 
the  inspired  translators  writing  in  separate  cells,  and  Jerome 
laughed  at  the  story  as  absurd,  was  not  one  of  the  two  mistaken  ? 
When  Jerome,  writing  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  trans- 
lated its  meaning  to  be  that  Peter  was  blamed  by  Paul  for 
dissimulating,  and  Augustine  denied  it,  was  not  one  of  them 
mistaken?  .  .  .  Augustine  asserts  that  demons  and  angels 
also  have  material  and  substantial  bodies.  I  doubt  not  that 
even  you  deny  this!  He  asserts  that  infants  dying  without 
baptism  are  consigned  to  physical  torments  in  eternal  punish- 
ment— how  many  are  there  who  believe  this  now?  unless  it  be 
that  Luther,  clinging  by  tooth  and  nail  to  the  doctrine  of  Augustine, 
should  be  induced  to  revive  this  antiquated  notion.  .  .  ." 

I  have  quoted  this  passage  from  More's  letter  because  it 
shows  clearly,  not  only  how  fully  More  had  adopted  the  position 
taken  up  by  Erasmus,  but  also  how  fully  his  eyes  were  open  to 
the  fact,  that  the  rising  reformer  of  Wittemberg  did  cling  by 
tooth  and  nail  to  the  doctrine  of  Augustine,  and  was  Hkely,  by 
doing  so,  to  be  led  astray  into  some  of  the  harsh  views,  and,  as 
he  thought,  obvious  errors  of  that  Holy  Father. 


296 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 19 


At  the  same  time  the  following  passage  may  be  quoted  as  ; 
proof  that,  in  rejecting  the  Augustinian  creed,  More  and  his  | 
friends  did  not  run  into  the  other  extreme  of  Pelagianism.  : 

He  had  told  the  monk  at  the  beginning  of  his  letter,  that  j 
after  he  had  shown  how  safe  was  the  ground  upon  which  | 
Erasmus  and  he  were  walking  in  the  valley,  he  would  turn  | 
round  and  assail  the  lofty  but  tottering  citadel,  from  which  the  j 
monk  looked  down  upon  them  with  so  proud  a  sense  of  security.  , 
So  after  he  had  disposed  of  the  monk's  arguments,  he  began : —    > 

''  Into  what  factions — into  how  many  sects  is  the  order  cut  ■ 
up!  Then,  what  tumults,  what  tragedies  arise  about  little  ; 
differences  in  the  colour  or  mode  of  girding  the  monastic  habit,  j 
or  some  matter  of  ceremony  which,  if  not  altogether  despicable,  ' 
is  at  all  events  not  so  important  as  to  warrant  the  banishment  1 
of  all  charity.  How  many,  too,  are  there  (and  this  is  surely  j 
worst  of  all)  who,  relying  on  the  assurances  of  their  monastic  ; 
profession,  inwardly  raise  their  crests  so  high  that  they  seem  to  ! 
themselves  to  move  in  the  heavens,  and  reclining  among  the  j 
solar  rays,  to  look  down  from  on  high  upon  the  people  creeping  \ 
on  the  ground  like  ants,  looking  down  thus,  not  only  on  the  i 
ungodly,  but  also  upon  all  who  are  without  the  circle  of  the  \ 
enclosure  of  their  order,  so  that  for  the  most  part  nothing  is  | 
holy  but  what  they  do  themselves.  .  .  .  They  make  more  of  j 
things  which  appertain  specially  to  the  religious  order,  than  of  : 
those  valueless  and  very  humble  things  which  are  in  no  way  j 
peculiar  to  them  but  entirely  common  to  all  Christian  people,  j 
such  as  the  vulgar  virtues — faith,  hope,  charity,  the  fear  of  ] 
God,  humility,  and  others  of  the  kind.  Nor,  indeed,  is  this  a  \ 
new  thing.  Nay,  it  is  what  Christ  long  ago  denounced  to  his  i 
chosen  people, '  Ye  make  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  [ 
your  traditions.'  ...  | 

"  There  are  multitudes  enough  who  would  be  afraid  that  the  \ 
devil  would  come  upon  them  and  take  them  alive  to  hell,  if,  ' 
forsooth,  they  were  to  set  aside  their  usual  garb,  whom  nothing  ! 
can  move  when  they  are  grasping  at  money.  I 

"  Are  there  only  a  few,  think  you,  who  would  deem  it  a  crime  i 
to  be  expiated  with  many  tears,  if  they  were  to  omit  a  line  in  \ 
their  hourly  prayers,  and  yet  have  no  fearful  scruple  at  all,  ! 
when  they  profane  themselves  by  the  worst  and  most  infamous  1 
lies  ?  .  .  .  Indeed,  I  once  knew  a  man  devoted  to  the  religious  \ 
life — one  of  that  class  who  would  nowadays  be  thought  '  most  \ 
religious.'  This  man,  by  no  means  a  novice,  but  one  who  had  | 
passed  many  years  in  what  they  call  regular  observances,  and  • 


1 5 19]  More  and  the  Monks  297 

had  advanced  so  far  in  them  that  he  was  even  set  over  a  con- 
vent— but,  nevertheless,  more  careless  of  the  precepts  of  God 
than  of  monastic  rites — slid  down  from  one  crime  to  another, 
till  at  length  he  went  so  far  as  to  meditate  the  most  atrocious 
of  all  crimes — a  crime  execrable  beyond  belief — and  what  is 
more,  not  a  simple  crime,  but  one  pregnant  with  manifold 
guilt,  for  he  even  purposed  to  add  sacrilege  to  murders  and 
parricide.  When  this  man  thought  himself  insufficient  without 
accomplices  for  the  perpetration  of  so  many  crimes,  he  asso- 
ciated with  himself  some  ruffians  and  cutpurses.  They  com- 
mitted the  most  horrible  crimes  which  I  ever  heard  of.  They 
were  all  of  them  thrown  together  into  prison.  I  do  not  wish 
to  give  the  details,  and  I  abstain  from  the  names  of  the  criminals, 
lest  I  should  renew  anything  of  past  hatred  to  an  innocent 
order. 

"  But  to  proceed  to  narrate  the  circumstances  on  account  of 
which  I  have  mentioned  this  affair.  I  heard  from  those  wicked 
assassins  that,  when  they  came  to  that  religious  man  in  his 
chamber,  they  had  not  spoken  of  the  crime;  but  being  intro- 
duced into  his  private  chapel,  they  appeased  the  sacred  Virgin 
by  a  salutation  on  their  bent  knees  according  to  custom.  This 
being  properly  accomplished ^  they  at  length  rose  purely  and  piously 
to  perpetrate  their  crime  !  .  .  . 

"  Now,  I  have  not  mentioned  this  with  the  view  either  to 
defame  the  religion  of  the  monks  with  these  crimes,  since  the 
same  soil  may  bring  forth  useful  herbs  and  pestiferous  weeds, 
or  to  condemn  the  rites  of  those  who  occasionally  salute  the 
sacred  Virgin,  than  which  nothing  is  more  beneficial;  but  be- 
cause people  trust  so  much  in  such  things  that  under  the  very 
security  which  they  thus  feel  they  give  themselves  up  to  crime. 

"  From  reflections  such  as  these  you  may  learn  the  lesson 
which  the  occasion  suggests.  That  you  should  not  grow  too 
proud  of  your  own  sect — nothing  could  be  more  fatal.  Nor 
trust  in  private  observances.  That  you  should  place  your 
hopes  rather  in  the  Christian  faith  than  in  your  own;  and  not 
trust  in  those  things  which  you  can  do  for  yourself,  but  in  those 
which  you  cannot  do  without  God^s  help.  You  can  fast  by 
yourself,  you  can  keep  vigils  by  yourself,  you  can  say  prayers 
by  yourself — and  you  can  do  these  things  by  the  devil !  But, 
verily.  Christian  faith,  which  Christ  Jesus  truly  said  to  be 
in  spirit;  Christian  hope,  which,  despairing  of  its  own  merits, 
confides  only  in  the  mercy  of  God;  Christian  charity,  which  is 
not  puffed  up,  is  not  made  angry,  does  not  seek  its  own  glory — 


298 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1519  i 


none,  indeed,  can  attain  these  except  by  the  grace  and  gracious 
help  of  God  alone. 

"  By  how  much  the  more  you  place  your  trust  in  those  virtues 
which  are  common  to  Christendom,  by  so  much  the  less  will  you 
have  faith  in  private  ceremonies,  whether  those  of  your  order 
or  your  own;  and  by  how  much  the  less  you  trust  in  them  by 
so  much  the  more  will  they  be  useful.  For  then  at  last  God 
will  esteem  you  a  faithful  servant,  when  you  shall  count  yourself 
good  for  nothing." 

That  these  passages  prove  that  More  and  his  friends  had  not 
set  aside  monasticism,  or  even  Mariolatry,  as  altogether  wrong, 
cannot  be  too  clearly  recognised.  In  an  age  of  transition  it  is 
the  direction  of  the  thoughts  and  aims  of  men  which  constitutes 
the  radical  difference  or  agreement  between  them,  rather  than 
the  exact  distance  that  each  may  have  travelled  on  the  same 
road.  Luther  himself  had  not  yet  in  his  hatred  of  ceremonies 
travelled  so  far  as  the  Oxford  Reformers,  though  in  after  years 
he  went  farther,  because  he  travelled  faster  than  they  did. 
Upon  these  questions  they  were  very  much  practically  at  one. 
And  if  here  and  there  the  three  friends  observed  in  Luther  an 
impetuosity  which  carried  him  into  extremes,  much  as  they 
might  differ  from  some  of  his  statements,  and  the  tone  he  some- 
times adopted,  their  respect  for  his  moral  earnestness,  and  their 
perception  of  the  amount  of  exasperation  to  which  his  hot  nature 
was  exposed,  made  them  readily  pardon  what  they  could  not 
approve.  They  had  as  yet  little  idea — though  More's  letter 
showed  that  they  had  some — much  less  than  Luther  himself  had 
— ^how  practically  important  was  the  difference  between  them. 
For  the  moment  their  two  orbits  seemed  almost  to  coincide. 
They  seemed  even  to  be  approaching  each  other.  They  seemed 
to  meet  in  their  common  hatred  of  the  formalism  of  the  monks, 
in  their  common  attempt  to  grasp  at  the  spirit — the  reality — of 
religion  through  its  forms  and  shadows.  They  had  little  idea 
that  they  were  crossing  each  other's  path,  and  that  ere  long,  as 
each  pursued  his  course,  the  divergence  would  become  wider  and 
wider. 

V.   ERASMUS   AND   THE   REFORMERS    OF  WITTEMBERG  (1519) 

In  the  summer  of  1518  Melanchthon  had  joined  Luther  at 
Wittemberg.  During  the  remainder  of  that  year  the  contro- 
versy on  Indulgences  was  going  on.  Rome  had  taken  the  matter 
up.     Luther  had  appeared  before  the  Papal  legate  Cajetan,  and 


I5I9]    Oxford  and  Wittemberg  Reformers   299 

from  his  harsh  demand  of  simple  recantation  had  shrunk  with 
horror  and  fled  back  into  Saxony.  The  legate  had  threatened 
that  Rome  would  never  let  the  matter  drop,  and  urged  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  to  send  Luther  to  Rome.  But  he  had  made 
common  cause  with  the  poor  monk,  and  refused  to  banish  him. 
Leo  X.  was  afraid  to  quarrel  with  Frederic  of  Saxony,  and  under 
the  auspices  of  Miltitz,  aided  by  the  moderation  of  Luther  and 
the  firmness  of  his  protector,  a  little  oil  was  thrown  on  the  troubled 
waters.  But  in  the  spring  of  15 19,  when  the  Papal  tenths  came 
to  be  exacted,  murmurs  were  heard  again  on  all  sides.  Hutten 
commenced  his  series  of  satirical  pamphlets,  and  it  became 
evident  that  the  storm  was  not  permanently  laid,  the  lull 
might  last  for  a  while,  but  fresh  tempests  were  ahead  .^ 

It  was  during  this  interval  of  uncertainty  that  the  first  inter- 
course took  place  between  Erasmus  and  the  Wittemberg 
Reformers. 

Letters  had  already  passed  between  Melanchthon  and  Erasmus ; 
they  had  been  known  to  one  another  by  name  for  some  years, 
and  were  on  the  best  of  terms.  Thus  Melanchthon,  in  writing  to 
a  friend  of  his  in  January  15 19,  spoke  of  Erasmus  as  *'  the 
first  to  call  back  theology  to  her  fountain-head,"  and  of  Luther 
as  belonging  to  the  same  school.  He  freely  admitted  how 
much  greater  was  the  learning  of  Erasmus  than  that  of  Luther, 
and  when  in  March  he  received  from  Froben  a  copy  of  the 
Method  of  True  Theology,  told  Spalatin  that  "  this  illustrious 
man  seemed  to  have  touched  upon  many  points  in  the  same  strain 
as  Luther,  for  in  these  things,"  he  said,  "  they  agreed; "  adding, 
that  Erasmus  was  "  freer  than  Luther,  because  he  had  the  assist- 
ance of  real  and  sacred  learning;  "  and  he  mentioned  this  as  an 
illustration  of  what  he  had  just  been  saying,  "  that  every  good 
man  thought  well  of  their  cause." 

Erasmus,  on  his  side,  also  spoke  in  the  highest  possible  terms 
of  Melanchthon.  He  had  great  hopes  from  his  youth  that  he 
might  long  survive  himself,  and  if  he  did,  he  predicted  that  his 
name  would  throw  that  of  Erasmus  into  the  shade. 

Whilst,  however,  Erasmus  thus  freely  acknowledged  the 
friendship  and  merits  of  Melanchthon,  he  was  careful  not  to 
commit  himself  to  an  approval  of  all  that  Luther  was  doing.  And 
surely  it  was  wise ;  for  that  his  strong  Augustinian  tendencies 
were  well  known  to  the  Oxford  Reformers,  has  already  been  seen 
in  More's  letter  to  the  anonymous  monk. 

1  For  the  above  particulars  see  Ranke's  History  of  the  Reformation^ 
bk.  ii.  c.  iii. 


300  The  Oxford  Reformers  [i5i9| 

On  April  2,  15 19,  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  Melanchthon^  i 
mentioning  Luther's  desire  of  his  approval^  Erasmus  wrote,. that  I 
"  while  every  one  of  his  friends  honoured  Luther's  private  life,  i 
as  to  his  doctrine  there  were  different  opinions.  He  himself  had  ' 
not  read  Luther's  books.  Luther  had  censured  some  things  ' 
deservedly,  but  he  wished  that  he  had  done  so  as  happily  as  he  ' 
had  freely."  At  the  end  of  this  letter  he  expressed  his  affec-  j 
tionate  anxiety  lest  Melanchthon  should  be  wearing  himself  out  1 
by  too  hard  study.  j 

On  March  28,  Luther  had  written  a  letter  to  Erasmus,  which 
probably  crossed  this  on  the  way  between  Wittemberg  and  j 
Louvain.  It  was  a  letter  in  which  he  had  not  made  the  slightest  ■ 
allusion  to  any  difference  of  opinion  between  himself  and  ' 
Erasmus.  On  the  contrary,  he  had  spoken  as  though  he  held  , 
Erasmus  in  the  greatest  possible  honour.  He  had  spoken  of  his  ^ 
having  a  place  and  *'  reigning  "  in  the  hearts  of  all  who  really  ; 
loved  literature.  He  had  been  reading  the  new  preface  to  the  ■ 
Enchiridion,  and  from  it  and  from  his  friend  Fabricius  Capito  | 
he  had  learned  that  Erasmus  had  not  only  heard  but  approved  j 
of  what  he  had  done  respecting  indulgences.  And  with  much 
genuine  humility  he  had  begged  Erasmus  to  acknowledge  him,  . 
however  ignorant  and  unknown  to  fame,  buried  as  it  were  in  ! 
his  cell,  as  a  brother  in  Christ,  by  whom  he  himself  was  held  in  j 
the  greatest  affection  and  regard. 

To  this  Erasmus,  on  May  30,  replied,  in  a  letter  in  which  he  ! 
did  address  Luther  as  a  "  brother  in  Christ."     He  said  he  had  ; 
not  yet  read  the  books  which  had  created  so  much  clamour,  ; 
and  therefore  could  not  judge  of  them.     He  had  looked  into  j 
his  Commentaries  on  the  Psalms,  was  much  pleased  with  them, ; 
and  hoped  they  would  prove  useful.     Some  of  the  best  men  in  1 
England,  even  some  at  Louvain,  thought  well  of  him  and  his  ,; 
writings.    As  to  himself,  he  devoted  himself,  as  he  had  done  all  ■ 
along,  to  the  revival  of  good  literature  [including  first  and  fore-  { 
most  the  Scriptures].    And  it  seemed  to  him,  he  said,  that  more  \ 
good  would  come  of  courteous  modesty  than  of  impetuosity.  :! 
It  was  by  this  that  Christ  drew  the  world  under  his  influence.  ; 
It  was  thus  that  Paul  abrogated  that  Judaical  law,  treating 
it  all  as  typical.     It  were  better  to  exclaim  against  abuses  of 
pontifical  authority  than  against  the  Popes  themselves.     "May 
the  Lord  Jesus  daily  impart  to  you  abundantly  "  (he  con- 
cluded) "  of  his  own  Spirit  to  his  own  glory  and  the  public 
good." 

^  Dated  January  5,  from  Wittemberg. 


1 5 19]  Perseverance  of  Erasmus  301 

Thus  he  seems  to  have  said  the  same  things  to  both  Melanch- 
thon  and  Luther. 

In  the  same  strain,  also,  he  wrote  to  others  about  them. 

To  the  exasperated  monks,  who  charged  him  with  aiding  and 
abetting  Luther  in  writing  the  books  which  had  caused  such  a 
tumult,  he  replied  that,  as  he  had  not  read  them,  he  could  not 
even  express  a  decided  opinion  upon  them. 

To  Cardinal  Wolsey  he  wrote,  that  he  had  only  read  a  few 
pages  of  Luther's  books,  not  because  he  disliked  them,  but 
because  he  was  so  closely  occupied  with  his  own.  Luther's  life 
was  such  that  even  his  enemies  could  not  find  anything  to  slander. 
Germany  had  young  men  of  learning  and  eloquence  who  would, 
he  foretold,  bring  her  great  glory.  Eobanus,  Hutten,  and 
Beatus  Rhenanus  were  the  only  ones  he  knew  personally.  If 
these  German  students  were  too  free  in  their  criticisms,  it  should 
be  remembered  to  what  constant  exasperation  they  had  been 
submitted  in  all  manner  of  ways,  both  public  and  private. 

To  Hutten,  who  was  perhaps  the  most  hot-headed  of  these 
German  young  men,  and  whose  satire  had  already  proved  itself 
more  trenchant  and  bitter  than  any  in  which  Erasmus  had 
ever  indulged,  he  urged  moderation,  and  said  that  for  himself 
he  had  rather  spend  a  month  in  trying  to  explain  St.  Paul  or 
the  Gospels  than  waste  a  day  in  quarrelling. 

Erasmus,  was,  in  fact,  working  hard  at  his  Paraphrases. 
That  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  had  been  already  printed 
in  1 5 17,  in  the  very  best  type  of  Thierry  Martins,  and  forming 
a  small  and  very  readable  octavo  volume.  Those  on  the  next 
seven  epistles  now  followed  in  quick  succession  in  the  spring 
of  1 5 19.  How  fully  the  heart  of  Erasmus  was  in  his  work  is 
incidentally  shown  by  the  fact  that,  being  obliged  to  write  a 
pamphlet  in  defence  of  a  former  publication  of  his,  he  cut  it 
short  by  saying  that  he  had  rather  be  working  at  the  Paraphrase 
on  the  Galatians,  which  he  was  just  completing.  And  Erasmus 
was  preparing,  in  addition  to  these  Paraphrases  on  the  Epistles, 
others,  at  Colet's  desire,  more  lengthy,  on  the  Gospels.  Here 
was  work  enough  surely  on  hand  to  excuse  him  from  entering 
into  the  Lutheran  controversy — work  precisely  of  that  kind, 
moreover,  which  he  had  told  Luther  that  he  was  devoting  himself 
to.  It  was  the  work  which,  when  he  was  longing  for  rest,  and 
his  zeal  for  the  moment  was  threatening  to  flag,  Colet  had  urged 
him  to  go  on  with  through  good  and  evil  fortune;  and  which 
he  himself,  in  his  letter  to  Servatius,  had  said  he  was  determined 
to  work  at  to  the  day  of  his  death.     It  is  clear  that  he  was  in 


302  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1519 

earnest  when  he  told  Hutten  that  he  "  had  rather  spend  a  month 
in  expounding  St.  Paul,  than  waste  a  day  in  quarrelling." 

It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that  the  attitude  of  Erasmus 
towards  Luther  was  that,  not  of  a  coward,  but  of  a  man  who 
knew  what  he  was  about. 

VI.   ELECTION   OF   CHARLES   V.   TO   THE   EMPIRE  (1519) 

On  January  12,  1519,  Maximilian  had  died.  It  is  not  within 
the  scope  of  this  history  to  trace  the  steps  and  countersteps,  the 
plots  and  counterplots,  the  bribery  and  treachery — the  Machia- 
vellian means  and  devices — in  which  nearly  every  sovereign  in 
Europe  v/as  implicated,  to  the  detriment  of  both  conscience  and 
exchequer,  and  which  ended  in  placing  Charles  V.,  then  absent 
in  Spain,  at  the  head  of  the  German  empire.  With  the  accession 
of  the  new  emperor  commenced  a  new  political  era,  which 
belongs  to  the  history  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  and  not 
to  that  of  the  Oxford  Reformers. 

Erasmus  was  too  hard  at  work  at  his  Paraphrases  to  admit  of 
his  meddling  in  politics,  even  though  he  himself  had  an  honorary 
connection  with  the  court  of  the  prince  who  was  the  successful 
candidate,  and  had  written  his  Christian  Prince  expressly  for 
his  benefit. 

Colet  was  living  in  retirement,  suffering  from  shattered  health, 
too  closely  watched  by  the  restless  eye  of  his  bishop  to  take  any 
part  in  public  affairs.^ 

Even  More,  though  now  a  constant  attendant  upon  Henry 
VIIL,  was  probably  not  initiated  into  continental  secrets,  and 
even  had  he  shared  all  the  counsels  of  Wolsey,  any  part  which 
he  might  play  would  be  purely  executive,  and  belong  rather  to 
the  history  of  his  own  political  career  than  to  that  of  the  fellow- 
work  of  the  three  friends.  He  probably  had  little  or  nothing 
really  to  do  with  Wolsey's  plottings  to  secure  the  empire  for  his 
master,  in  order  that  he  might,  on  the  death  of  Leo  X.,  secure 
the  Papal  chair  for  himself.  But  there  was  one  circumstance 
connected  with  the  election  of  the  Emperor  of  too  much  signifi- 
cance to  be  passed  over  in  this  history  without  distinct  mention 
— the  part  which  Duke  Frederic  of  Saxony  played  in  it;  and 
this  shall  simply  be  alluded  to  in  the  words  of  Erasmus  himself. 

"  The  Duke  Frederic  of  Saxony  has  written  twice  to  me  in 

^  Colet  seems  even  to  have  retired  from  the  office  of  preacher  before  the 
King  on  Good  Friday,  which  he  had  filled  in  1510,  151 1,  1512,  1513,  1515, 
1516,  and  1517.  Brewer,  ii.  pp.  1445-1474.  In  1518  the  sermon  was 
preached  by  the  Dean  of  Sarum,  p.  1477. 


I5I9]  The  Election  of  Charles  V.  303 

reply  to  my  letter.  Luther  is  supported  solely  by  his  protection. 
He  says  that  he  has  acted  thus  for  the  sake  rather  of  the  cause 
than  of  the  person  [of  Luther].  He  adds  that  he  will  not  lend 
himself  to  the  oppression  of  innocence  in  his  dominions  by  the 
maUce  of  those  who  seek  their  own,  and  not  the  things  of  Christ." 
And  Erasmus  goes  on  to  say,  that  "  when  the  imperial  crown 
was  offered  to  Frederic  of  Saxony  by  all  [the  electors],  with  great 
magnanimity  he  had  refused  it,  the  very  day  before  Charles  was 
elected.  And  "  (he  writes)  "  Charles  never  would  have  worn 
the  imperial  title  had  it  not  been  declined  by  Frederic,  whose 
glory  in  refusing  the  honour  was  greater  than  if  he  had  accepted 
it.  When  he  was  asked  who  he  thought  should  be  elected,  he 
said  that  no  one  seemed  to  him  able  to  bear  the  weight  of  so 
great  a  name  but  Charles.  In  the  same  noble  spirit  he  firmly 
refused  the  30,000  florins  offered  him  by  our  people  [i.e.  the 
agents  of  Charles].  When  he  was  urged  that  at  least  he  would 
allow  10,000  florins  to  be  given  to  his  servants,  '  They  may  take 
them  '  (he  said) '  if  they  like,  but  no  one  shall  remain  my  servant 
another  day  who  accepts  a  single  piece  of  gold.'  The  next 
day  "  (continues  Erasmus)  "  he  took  horse  and  departed,  lest 
they  should  continue  to  bother  him.  This  was  related  to  me  as 
entirely  reliable,  by  the  Bishop  of  Liege,  who  was  present  at  the 
Imperial  Diet." 

Well  did  the  conduct  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  merit  the 
admiration  of  Erasmus.  Would  that  Charles  V.  had  merited  as 
fully  the  patronage  of  the  wise  Elector ! 

It  was  a  significant  fact  that,  after  all  the  bribery  and  whole- 
sale corruption  by  which  this  election  was  marked,  the  only 
prince  who  in  the  event  had  a  chance  of  success,  other  than 
Charles,  was  the  one  man  who  was  superior  to  corruption,  and 
would  not  allow  even  his  servants  to  be  bribed,  who  did  not 
covet  the  imperial  dignity  for  himself,  but  firmly  refused  it  when 
offered  to  him — the  protector  of  Luther  against  the  Pope  and  the 
empire — the  hope  and  strength  of  the  Protestant  Revolution 
which  was  now  so  rapidly  approaching. 

VII.   THE   HUSSITES   OF  BOHEMIA  (1519) 

While  the  election  of  the  Emperor  was  proceeding  the  famous 
disputation  at  Leipzig  took  place,  which  commenced  between 
Carlstadt  and  Eck,  upon  the  question  of  grace  and  free-will,  and 
was  continued  between  Eck  and  Luther  on  the  primacy  of  the 
Pope — that  remarkable  occasion  on  which,  after  pressing  Eck 


304  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 19 

into  a  declaration  that  all  the  Greek  and  other  Christians  who 
did  not  acknowledge  the  primacy  of  the  Pope  were  heretics  and 
lost^  Luther  himself  was  finally  driven  to  assert,  probably  as 
much  to  his  own  surprise  as  to  that  of  his  auditors,  "  that  among 
the  articles  on  which  the  Council  of  Constance  grounded  its  con- 
demnation of  John  Huss,  were  some  fundamentally  Christian 
and  evangelical." 

Well  might  Duke  George  mutter  in  astonishment  "  a  plague 
upon  it.'"  A  few  months  later  Luther  himself,  after  pondering 
the  matter  over  and  over  with  his  New  Testament  and  Melanch- 
thon,  was  obliged  to  exclaim,  "  I  taught  Huss's  opinions 
without  knowing  them,  and  so  did  Staupitz:  we  are  all  of  us 
Hussites  without  knowing  it !  Paul  and  Augustine  are  Hussites ! 
I  do  not  know  what  to  think  for  amazement." 

Meanwhile,  before  Luther  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
himself,  with  St.  Augustine,  was  a  Hussite,  Erasmus  had  been  in 
correspondence  with  Johannes  Schlechta,  a  Bohemian,  on  the 
religious  dissensions  which  existed  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia,  and 
with  special  reference  to  the  Hussite  sect  of  the  Pyghards,  or 
United  Brethren.  Schlechta  had  informed  Erasmus  that,  setting 
aside  Jews  and  unbelieving  philosophers  who  denied  the  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  the  people  were  divided  into  three  sects: 
First,  the  Papal  party,  including  most  of  the  magistrates  and 
nobility.  Secondly,  a  party  to  which  he  himself  belonged,  who 
acknowledged  the  Papacy,  but  differed  from  other  good  Catholics 
in  dispensing  the  Sacrament  in  both  kinds  to  the  laity,  and  in 
chanting  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  at  mass,  not  in  Latin,  but  in  the 
vulgar  tongue;  to  which  customs  they  most  pertinaciously 
adhered,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  confirmed  and  approved 
in  the  Council  of  Basle  (1431).^  Thirdly,  the  sect  of  the 
"  Pyghards  "  [or  "  United  Brethren  "],  who  since  the  times  of 
John  Zisca  -  had  maintained  their  ground  through  much  blood- 
shed and  violence.  These,  he  said,  regarded  the  Pope  and  clergy 
as  manifest  "  Antichrists;  "  the  Pope  himself  sometimes  as  the 
"  Beast,"  and  sometimes  as  the  "  Harlot "  of  the  Apocalypse. 
They  chose  rude  and  ignorant  and  even  married  laymen  as  their 
priests  and  bishops.     They  called  each  other  "  brothers  and 

^  This  middle  party  were  called  "  Calixtines."  See  introduction  to 
Holmes's  History,  vol.  i.  p.  21,  where  the  facts  mentioned  in  this  letter  are 
detailed,  very  much  in  accordance  with  Schlechta's  account. 

2  John  Zisca  was  a  Hussite.  He  died  in  1424,  nine  years  after  the  death 
of  Huss,  and  on  his  monument  was  inscribed,  "  Here  lies  John  Zisca,  who 
having  defended  his  country  against  the  encroachments  of  Papal  tyranny, 
rests  in  this  halloived  place  in  spite  of  the  Pope" — Ibid.  p.  20. 


I5I9]  The  Hussites  of  Bohemia  305 

sisters."  They  acknowledged  no  writings  as  of  authority  but 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  Fathers  and  Schoolmen  they 
counted  nothing  by.  Their  priests  used  no  vestments,  and  no 
forms  of  prayer  but  "  the  Lord's  Prayer."  They  thought  lightly 
of  the  sacraments ;  used  no  salt  or  holy  water — only  pure  water 
— in  baptism,  and  rejected  extreme  unction.  They  saw  only 
simple  bread  and  wine,  no  divinity,  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar, 
and  regarded  these  only  as  signs  representing  and  commemora- 
tive of  the  death  of  Christ,  who  they  said  was  in  heaven.  The 
suffrages  of  the  saints  and  prayers  for  the  dead  they  held  to  be 
vain  and  absurd,  and  also  auricular  confession  and  penance. 
Vigils  and  fasts  they  looked  upon  as  hypocritical.  The  festivals 
of  the  Virgin,  Apostles,  and  Saints,  they  said,  were  invented  by 
the  idle;  Sunday,  Christmas,  Good  Friday,  and  Pentecost  they 
observed.  Other  pernicious  dogmas  of  theirs  were  not  worthy 
of  mention  to  Erasmus.  If,  however  (his  Bohemian  friend 
added),  the  first  two  of  these  three  sects  could  but  be  united, 
then  perhaps  this  vicious  sect,  now  much  on  the  increase,  owing 
to  recent  ecclesiastical  scandals,  might,  by  the  aid  of  the  King, 
be  either  exterminated  or  forced  into  a  better  form  of  creed  and 
religion.  Erasmus,  he  concluded,  had  now  the  whole  circum- 
stances of  these  Bohemian  divisions  before  him. 

Here,  then,  Erasmus  was  brought  into  direct  contact  with 
the  opinions  of  the  very  sect  to  which  Luther  was  gradually 
approaching,  but  had  not  yet  discovered  his  proximity. 

The  reply  of  Erasmus  may  be  regarded,  therefore,  as  evidence 
of  his  views,  not  only  on  the  opinions  and  practices  of  the 
Hussites  of  Bohemia,  but  also  as  foreshadowing  what  would  be 
his  views  with  regard  to  the  opinions  and  practices  of  Luther  and 
the  Protestant  Reformers  so  soon  as  they  should  publicly  profess 
themselves  Hussites. 

"  You  point  out  "  (Erasmus  wrote)  "  that  Bohemia  and 
Moravia  are  divided  up  into  three  sects.  I  wish,  my  dear 
Schlechta,  that  some  pious  hand  could  unite  the  three  into  one !  " 

The  second  party  (Erasmus  said)  erred,  in  his  opinion,  more 
in  scornfully  rejecting  the  judgment  and  custom  of  the  Roman 
Church  than  in  thinking  it  right  to  take  the  Eucharist  in  both 
kinds,  which  was  not  an  unreasonable  practice  in  itself,  though 
it  might  be  better  to  avoid  singularity  on  such  a  point.  As 
to  the  "Pyghards,"  he  did  not  see  why  it  followed  that  the  Pope 
was  Antichrist  because  there  had  been  some  bad  popes,  or  that 
the  Roman  Church  was  the  "  harlot "  because  she  had  often 
had   wicked   cardinals   or   bishops.    Still,   however   bad   the 


3o6 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 19 


"Pyghards"  might  be^he  would  not  advise  a  resort  to  violence. 
It  would  be  a  dangerous  precedent.  As  to  their  electing  their 
own  priests  and  bishops,  that  was  not  opposed  to  primitive 
practice.  St.  Nicholas  and  St.  Ambrose  were  thus  elected, 
and  in  ancient  times  even  kings  were  elected  by  the  people.  If 
they  were  in  the  habit  of  electing  ignorant  and  unlearned  men, 
that  did  not  matter  much,  if  only  their  holy  life  outweighed 
their  ignorance.  He  did  not  see  why  they  were  to  be  blamed 
for  calling  one  another  "  brothers  and  sisters."  He  wished  the 
practice  could  obtain  amongst  all  Christians,  if  only  the  fact 
were  consistent  with  the  words.  In  thinking  less  highly  of  the 
Doctors  than  of  the  Scriptures — that  is,  in  preferring  God  to 
man — they  were  in  the  right;  but  altogether  to  reject  them  was 
as  bad  as  altogether  to  accept  them.  Christ  and  the  Apostles 
officiated  in  their  everyday  dress ;  but  it  is  impious  to  condemn 
what  was  instituted,  not  without  good  reason,  by  the  fathers. 
Vigils  and  fasts,  in  moderation,  he  did  not  see  why  they  rejected, 
seeing  that  they  were  commended  by  the  Apostles ;  but  he  had 
rather  that  men  were  exhorted  than  compelled  to  observe  them. 
Their  views  about  festivals  were  not  very  different  from  Jerome's. 
Nowadays  the  number  of  festivals  had  become  enormous,  and  on 
no  days  were  more  crimes  committed.  Moreover,  the  labourer 
was  robbed  by  so  many  festivals  of  his  regular  earnings. 

As  to  the  cure  for  these  diseases  of  Bohemia:  he  desired  unity, 
and  expressed  his  views  how  unity  could  be  best  attained. 

"  In  my  opinion  "  (he  wrote)  "  many  might  be  reconciled  to 
the  Church  of  Rome  if,  instead  of  everything  being  defined,  we 
were  contented  with  what  is  evidently  set  forth  in  the  Scriptures 
or  necessary  to  salvation.  And  these  things  oxtfew  in  number,  and 
the  fewer  the  easier  for  many  to  accept.  Nowadays  out  of  one 
article  we  make  six  hundred,  some  of  which  are  such  that  men 
might  be  ignorant  of  them  or  doubt  them  without  injury  to 
piety.  It  is  in  human  nature  to  cling  by  tooth  and  nail  to  what 
has  once  been  defined.  The  sum  of  the  philosophy  of  Christ " 
(he  continued)  "  lies  in  this — that  we  should  know  that  all  our 
hope  is  placed  in  God,  who  freely  gives  us  all  things  through  his 
son  Jesus;  that  by  his  death  we  are  redeemed;  that  we  are 
united  to  his  body  in  baptism  in  order  that,  dead  to  the  desires 
of  the  world,  we  may  so  follow  his  teaching  and  example  as  not 
only  not  to  admit  of  evil,  but  also  to  deserve  well  of  all;  that  if 
adversity  comes  upon  us  we  should  bear  it  in  the  hope  of  the 
future  reward  which  is  in  store  for  all  good  men  at  the  advent 
of  Christ.    Thus  we  should  always  be  progressing  from  virtue 


1 5 19]  Erasmus  on  the  Hussites  307 

to  virtue,  and  whilst  assuming  nothing  to  ourselves,  ascribe  all 
that  is  good  to  God.  If  there  should  be  any  one  who  would 
inquire  into  the  Divine  nature,  or  the  nature  {hypostasis)  of 
Christ,  or  abstruse  points  about  the  sacraments,  let  him  do  so; 
only  let  him  not  try  to  force  his  views  upon  others.  In  the  same 
way  as  very  verbose  instruments  lead  to  controversies,  so  too 
many  definitions  lead  to  differences.  Nor  should  we  be  ashamed 
to  reply  on  some  questions  :  '  God  knows  how  this  should  be 
so,  it  is  enough  for  me  to  believe  that  it  is.'  I  know  that  the 
pure  blood  and  body  of  Christ  are  to  be  taken  purely  by  the  pure, 
and  that  he  wished  it  to  be  a  most  sacred  sign  and  pledge  both 
of  his  love  to  us  and  of  the  fellowship  of  Christians  amongst 
themselves.  Let  me,  therefore,  examine  myself  whether  there 
be  anything  in  me  inconsistent  with  Christ,  whether  there  be 
any  difference  between  me  and  my  neighbour.  As  to  the  rest, 
how  the  same  body  can  exist  in  so  small  a  form  and  in  so  many 
places  at  once,  in  my  opinion  such  questions  can  hardly  tend 
to  the  increase  of  piety.  I  know  that  I  shall  rise  again,  for  this 
was  promised  to  all  by  Christ,  who  was  the  first  who  rose  from 
the  dead.  As  to  the  questions,  with  what  body,  and  how  it 
can  be  the  same  after  having  gone  through  so  many  changes, 
though  I  do  not  disapprove  of  these  things  being  inquired  into 
in  moderation  on  suitable  occasions,  yet  it  conduces  very  little 
to  piety  to  spend  too  much  labour  upon  them.  Nowadays 
men's  minds  are  diverted,  by  these  and  other  innumerable 
subtleties,  from  things  of  vital  importance.  Lastly  it  would  tend 
greatly  to  the  establishment  of  concord,  if  secular  princes,  and 
especially  the  Roman  Pontiff,  would  abstain  from  all  tyranny 
and  avarice.  For  men  easily  revolt  when  they  see  preparations  for 
enslaving  them,  when  they  see  that  they  are  not  to  be  invited 
to  piety  but  caught  for  plunder.  If  they  saw  that  we  were 
innocent  and  desirous  to  do  them  good,  they  would  very  readily 
accept  our  faith."  ^ 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  point  of  this  letter  turns  not  directly 
upon  the  difference  which  Luther  had  discerned  between  himself 
and  Erasmus  (viz.  that  the  one  rejected  and  the  other  accepted 
the  doctrinal  system  of  St.  Augustine),  but  rather  upon  questions 
involving  the  duty  and  object  of  "  the  Church.'^  From  More's 
delineation  of  the  Church  of  Utopia,  it  has  been  seen  that  the 
notion  of  the  Oxford  Reformers  was  that  the  Church  was 
intended  to  be  broad  and  tolerant,  not  to  define  doctrine  and 

^  Dated  November  i,  1519.  The  letter  is  a  long  one,  and  these  quota- 
tions are  somewhat  abridged  in  translation. 


3o8 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 19 


enforce  dogmas,  but  to  afford  a  practical  bond  of  union  whereby 
Christians  might  be  kept  united  in  one  Christian  brotherhood, 
in  spite  of  their  differences  in  minor  matters  of  creed.  In  full 
accordance  with  this  view,  Erasmus  had  blamed  Schlechta  and 
his  party,  in  this  letter,  not  for  holding  their  peculiar  views 
respecting  the  "  Supper,"  but  for  making  them  a  ground  for 
separation  from  their  fellow -Christians.  So  also  he  blamed 
Schlechta  (himself  a  dissenter  from  Rome)  for  his  harsh  feelings 
towards  the  "  Pyghards  "  and  his  wish  "  to  exterminate  "  them. 
So,  too,  whilst  sympathising  strongly  with  the  poor  "  Pyghards  " 
in  many  of  the  points  in  which  they  differed  from  the  Church  of 
Rome,  he  blamed  them  for  jumping  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Church  was  "  Antichrist,"  and  for  flying  into  extremes.  So, 
too,  he  blamed  the  Church  herself,  as  he  always  had  blamed  her, 
for  so  narrowing  her  boundaries  as  to  shut  out  these  ultra- 
dissenters  of  Bohemia  from  her  communion. 

Now  it  is  obvious  that  at  the  foundation  of  the  position  here 
assumed  by  Erasmus,  and  elsewhere  by  the  Oxford  Reformers, 
lay  the  conviction  that  many  points  of  doctrine  were  in  their 
nature  uncertain  and  unsettled — that  many  attempted  defini- 
tions of  doctrine,  on  such  subjects  as  those  involved  in  the 
Athanasian  Creed,  in  the  Augijstinian  system,  and  in  scholastic 
additions  to  it,  were,  after  all,  and  in  spite  of  all  the  ecclesiastical 
authority  in  the  world,  just  as  unsettled  and  uncertain  as  ever  ; 
in  fact,  mere  hypotheses,  which  in  their  nature  never  can  be 
verified. 

Here  again,  therefore,  was  indirectly  involved  the  point  at 
issue  between  Erasmus  and  Luther;  between  the  Oxford  and 
the  Wittemberg  Reformers.  For  the  latter  in  accepting  the 
Augustinian  system  still  adhered,  in  spirit,  to  the  scholastic  or 
dogmatic  system  of  theology.  To  treat  questions  such  as  those 
above  mentioned  as  open  and  unsettled  seemed  to  them  to 
be  playing  the  part  of  the  sceptic.  Luther  was  honestly  and 
naturally  shocked  when  he  found  Erasmus  hinting  that  the 
doctrine  of  "  original  sin  "  was  in  some  measure  analogous  to 
the  epicycles  of  the  astrologer.  He  was  equally  shocked  again 
when  Erasmus,  a  few  years  after,  treated  the  question  of  the 
Freedom  of  the  Will  as  one  insoluble  in  its  nature,  involving 
the  old  philosophical  questions  between  free-will  and  fate.  And 
why  was  he  shocked?  Because  the  Augustinian  system  which 
he  had  adopted  treated  these  questions  as  finally  concluded. 
And  how  were  they  concluded?  By  the  judgment  of  the 
Church  based  upon  a  verbally  inspired  and  infallible  Bible. 


I5I9]    Oxford  and  Wittemberg  Reformers   309 

Luther  did  not  indeed  assert  so  strongly  the  verbal  inspiration 
of  the  Bible,  much  less  of  the  Vulgate  version,  as  Dr.  Eck  and 
other  Augustinian  theologians  had  done ;  yet  his  standing-point 
obliged  him  practically  to  assume  the  truth  of  this  doctrine, 
as  it  obliged  his  successors  more  and  more  strongly  to  assert 
it  as  the  years  rolled  on.  And  so,  whilst  rejecting,  even  more 
thoroughly  than  Erasmus  ever  did,  the  ecclesiastical  authority 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  yet  it  is  curious  to  observe  that,  in  doing 
so,  Luther  did  not  reject  the  notion  of  ecclesiastical  authority 
in  itself,  but  rather,  amidst  many  inconsistencies,  set  up  the 
authority  of  what  he  considered  to  be  the  true  church  against 
that  of  the  church  which  he  regarded  as  t\iQ  false  one.  As  a 
consistent  Augustinian  he  was  driven  to  assume,  in  replying 
to  the  Wittemberg  prophets  on  the  one  hand  and  the  scepti- 
cism of  Erasmus  on  the  other,  that  there  is  a  true  church  some- 
where, and  that  somewhere  in  the  true  church  there  is  an 
authority  capable  of  establishing  theological  hypotheses.  He 
was  not  willing  that  the  Scriptures  should  be  left  simply  to 
the  private  judgment  of  each  individual  for  himself.  He  even 
allowed  himself  to  claim  for  the  public  ministers  of  his  own 
church — "  the  leaders  of  the  people  and  the  preachers  of  the 
word  " — authority  ''  not  only  for  themselves  but  also  for  others, 
and  for  the  salvation  of  others,  to  judge  with  the  greatest 
certainty  the  spirit  and  dogmas  of  all  men." 

Not  that  Luther  always  consistently  upheld  this  doctrine  any 
more  than  Erasmus  consistently  upheld  its  opposite.  Luther 
was  often  to  be  found  asserting  and  using  the  right  of  private 
judgment  against  the  authority  of  Rome,  as  Erasmus  was  often 
found  upholding  the  authority  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  her 
authorised  councils  against  the  rival  authority  of  Luther's 
schismatic  and  unauthorised  church.  In  times  of  transition, 
men  are  inconsistent;  and  regard  must  be  had  rather  to  the 
direction  in  which  they  are  moving  than  the  precise  point  to 
which  at  any  particular  moment  they  may  have  attained. 
And  what  I  wish  to  impress  upon  the  reader  is  this — that  not 
only  Luther,  but  all  other  Reformers,  from  Wickliffe  down  to 
the  modern  Evangelicals,  who  have  adopted  the  Augustinian 
system  and  founded  their  reform  upon  it,  have  practically 
assumed  as  the  basis  of  their  theology,  first,  the  plenary  inspir- 
ation of  each  text  contained  in  the  Scriptures;  and,  secondly, 
the  existence  of  an  ecclesiastical  authority  of  some  kind  capable 
of  establishing  theological  hypotheses;  so  that,  in  this  respect, 
Luther  and  other  Augustinian  reformers,  instead  of  advancing 


3IO  The  Oxford  Reformers  [15 19 

beyond  the  Oxford  Reformers,  have  lagged  far  behind,  seeing 
that  they  have  contentedly  remained  under  a  yoke  from  which 
the  Oxford  Reformers  had  been  labouring  for  twenty  years  to 
set  men  free. 

In  saying  this  I  am  far  from  overlooking  the  fact,  that  the 
Protestant  Reformers,  in  reverting  to  a  purer  form  of  Augus- 
tinian  doctrine  than  that  held  by  the  Schoolmen,  did  practically 
by  it  bring  Christianity  to  bear  upon  men  with  a  power  and  a 
life  which  contrasted  strangely  with  the  cold  dead  religion  of 
the  Thomists  and  Scotists.  I  am  as  far  also  from  underrating 
the  force  and  the  fire  of  St.  Augustine.  What,  indeed,  must 
not  that  force  and  that  fire  have  been  to  have  made  it  possible  for 
him  to  bind  the  conscience  of  Western  Christendom  for  fourteen 
centuries  by  the  chains  of  his  dogmatic  theology!  And  when 
it  is  considered,  on  the  one  hand,  that  the  greatest  of  the  School- 
men were  so  loyal  to  St.  Augustine,  that  some  of  their  subtlest 
distinctions  were  resorted  to  expressly  to  mitigate  the  harshness 
of  the  rigid  results  of  his  system,  and  thus  were  attempts,  not  to 
get  from  under  its  yoke,  but  to  make  it  bearable  ;  ^  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  chief  reactions  against  scholastic  formalism 
— those  of  Wickliffe,  Huss,  Luther,  Calvin,  the  Portroyalists, 
the  Puritans,  the  modern  Evangelicals^were  Augustinian  re- 
actions; so  far  from  w^z^^r-estimating  the  power  of  the  man 
whose  influence  was  so  diverse  and  so  vast,  it  may  well  become 
an  object  of  ever-increasing  astonishment  to  the  student  of 
Ecclesiastical  History. 

At  the  same  time,  these  considerations  must  raise  also  our 
estimate  of  the  need  and  the  value  of  the  firm  stand  taken  350 
years  ago  by  the  Oxford  Reformers  against  this  dogmatic  power 
so  long  dominant  in  the  realm  of  religious  thought.  It  has  been 
seen  in  every  page  of  this  history,  that  they  had  taken  their 
standpoint,  so  to  speak,  behind  that  of  St.  Augustine;  behind 
even  the  schism  between  Eastern  and  Western  Christendom; 
behind  those  patristic  hypotheses  which  grew   up    into   the 

^  See  Mozley's  Augustinian  Doctrine  of  Predestination.  Chap.  x.  "  Scho- 
lastic Doctrine  of  Predestination."  And  see  the  particular  instance  there 
given  on  the  subject  of  infants  dying  in  original  sin,  p.  307.  "  Being  by 
nature  reprobate,  and  not  being  included  within  the  remedial  decree  of 
predestination,  they  were  .  .  .  [according  to  the  pure  Augustinian  doctrine] 
.  ,  .  subject  to  the  sentence  of  eternal  punishment.  .  .  .  The  Augustinian 
schoolman  [Aquinas]  could  not  expressly  contradict  this  position,  but 
what  he  could  not  contradict  he  could  explain.  Augustine  had  laid  down 
that  the  punishment  of  such  children  was  the  mildest  of  all  punishment 
in  hell."  .  .  .  Aquinas  "  laid  down  the  fiurther  hypothesis,  that  this 
punishment  was  not  pain  of  body  or  mind,  but  want  of  the  Divine  vision." 


ISI9]    Oxford  and  Wittemberg  Reformers   311 

scholastic  theology;  behind  that  notion  of  Church  authority 
by  which  these  hypotheses  obtained  a  fictitious  verification; 
behind  the  theory  of  "  plenary  inspiration/'  without  which  the 
Scriptures  could  not  have  been  converted^  as  they  were,  into  a 
mass  of  raw  material  for  the  manufacture  of  any  quantity  of 
hypotheses — behind  all  these — on  the  foundation  oifact  which 
underlies  them  all. 

The  essential  difference  between  the  standpoints  of  the 
Protestant  and  Oxford  Reformers  Luther  had  been  the  first  to 
perceive.  And  the  correctness  of  this  first  impression  of  Luther's 
has  been  singularly  confirmed  by  the  history  of  the  three  and 
a  half  centuries  of  Protestant  ascendency  in  Western  Christen- 
dom. The  Protestant  movement,  whilst  accomplishing  by  one 
revolutionary  blow  many  objects  which  the  Oxford  Reformers 
were  striving  and  striving  in  vain  to  compass  by  constitutional 
means,  has  been  so  far  antagonistic  to  their  work  in  other 
directions  as  to  throw  it  back — not  to  say  to  wipe  it  out  of  re- 
membrance— so  that  in  this  nineteenth  century  those  Christians 
who  have  desired,  as  they  did,  to  rest  their  faith  upon  honest 
facts,  and  not  upon  dogmas — upon  evidence,  and  not  upon 
authority — instead  of  taking  up  the  work  where  the  Oxford 
Reformers  left  it,  have  had  to  begin  it  again  at  the  beginning, 
as  Co  let  did  at  Oxford  in  1496.  They  have  had,  like  the  Oxford 
Reformers,  to  combat  at  the  outset  the  theory  of  "  plenary 
inspiration,"  and  the  tendency  inherited  along  with  it  from 
St.  Augustine,  by  both  Schoolmen  and  Protestant  Reformers, 
to  build  up  a  theology,  as  I  have  said,  upon  unverified  hypotheses, 
and  to  narrow  the  boundaries  of  Christian  fellowship  by  the 
imposition  of  dogmatic  creeds  so  manufactured.  They  have  had 
to  meet  the  same  arguments  and  the  same  blind  opposition;  to 
bear  the  same  taunts  of  heresy  and  unsoundness  from  ascendant 
orthodox  schools;  to  be  pointed  at  by  their  fellow-Christians 
as  insidious  enemies  of  the  Christian  faith,  because  they  have 
striven  to  present  it  before  the  eyes  of  a  scientific  age  as  what 
they  think  it  really  is — not  a  system  of  unverified  hypotheses, 
but  a  faith  m  facts  which  it  would  be  unscientific  even  in  a 
disciple  of  the  positive  philosophy  to  pass  by  unexplored. 


VIII.  more's  domestic  life  (1519) 

By  the  aid  of  a  letter  from  Erasmus  to  Ulrich  Hutten,  written 
in  July  1519,  one  more  lingering  look  may  be  taken  at  the 


312  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1519  \ 

beautiful  picture  of  domestic  happiness  presented  by  More's  ■ 

home.     This  history  would  be  incomplete  without  it.  \ 

The  "  young  More/'  with  whom  Colet  and  Erasmus  had  j 

fallen  in  love  twenty  years  ago^  was  now  past  forty.^    The  four  j 

motherless   children,   Margaret,   Elizabeth,  Cicely,  and  John,  j 

awhile  ago  nestling  round  their  widowed  father's  knee,  as  the  ' 

dark  shadow  of  sorrow  passed  over  the  once  bright  home  in  ■ 

Bucklersbury,  were  now  from  ten  to  thirteen  years  old.    The  | 

good  stepmother,  Alice  Middleton,  is  said  to  have  ruled  her  ] 

household  well,  and  her  daughter  had  taken  a  place  in  the  family  ! 

circle  as  one  of  More's  children.    There  was  a  marked  absence  of  - 

jarring  or  quarrelling,  which  in  such  a  household  bore  witness  ; 

to  the  good-nature  of  the  mistress.    She  could  not,  indeed,  fill  ] 

altogether  the  void  left  in  More's  heart  by  the  loss  of  his  first  i 

wife — the  gentle  girl  brought  up  in  country  retirement  with  her  ■. 

parents  and  sisters,  whom  he  had  delighted  to  educate  to  his  ; 

own  tastes,  in  letters  and  in  music,  in  the  fond  hope  that  she  ; 

would  be  to  him  a  lifelong  companion,^  and  respecting  whom,  j 

soon  after  his  second  marriage,  in  composing  the  epitaph  for  the  I 

^  See  note  on  the  date,  More's  birth,  Appendix  A. 

^  Eras.  Op.  iii.  p.  475,  C.  and  D.  One  is  tempted  to  think  that  More 
intended  to  describe  his  first  wife  in  the  epigram,  "  Ad  Candidum  qualis 
uxor  deligenda,"  very  freely  translated  into  English  verse  by  Archdeacon 
Wrangham  as  follows: — 

Far  from  her  lips'  soft  door 

Be  noise  or  silence  stern. 
And  hers  be  learning's  store, 

Or  hers  the  power  to  leam. 

With  books  she'll  time  beguile, 

And  make  true  bliss  her  own, 
Unbuoyed  by  Fortune's  smile, 

Unbroken  by  her  frown. 

So  still  thy  heart's  delight. 

And  partner  of  thy  way. 
She'll  guide  thy  children  right. 

When  myriads  go  astray. 

So  left  all  meaner  things, 

Thou'lt  on  her  breast  recline. 
While  to  her  lyre  she  sings 

Strains,  Philomel,  like  thine; 

W^hile  still  thy  raptured  gaze 

Is  on  her  accents  hung. 
As  words  of  honied  grace 

Steal  from  her  honied  tongue. 


I5I9]  M ore's  Domestic  Life  31  j 

family  tomb^  in  which  she  was  already  laid,  he  had  written  this 
simple  line: — 

Cara  Thoma3  jacet  hie  Joanna  uxorcula  Mori! 

The  "  dame  Alice/'  though  somewhat  older  than  her  husband 
and  matronly  in  her  habits,  "  nee  bella  nee  puella/'  as  he  was 
fond  of  jokingly  telling  her,  out  of  deference  to  More's  musical 
tastes,  had  learned  to  sing  and  to  play  on  the  harp ;  but,  after 
all,  she  was  more  of  the  housekeeper  than  of  the  wife.  It  was 
not  to  her  but  to  his  daughter  Margaret  that  his  heart  now  clung 
with  fondest  affection. 

More  himself,  Erasmus  described  to  Hutten  as  humorous 
without  being  foolish,  simple  in  his  dress  and  habits,  and,  with 
all  his  popularity  and  success,  neither  proud  nor  boastful,  but 
accessible,  obliging,  and  kind  to  his  neighbours.  Fond  of  liberty 
and  ease  he  might  be,  but  no  one  could  be  more  active  or  more 
patient  than  he  when  occasion  required  it.  No  one  was  less 
influenced  by  current  opinion,  and  yet  no  man  had  more  common 
sense.  Averse  as  he  was  to  all  superstition,  and  having  shown 
in  his  Utopia  what  were  regarded  in  some  quarters  as  free- 
thinking  tendencies,  he  had  to  share  with  Colet  the  sneers  of  the 
"  orthodox,"  yet  a  tone  of  unaffected  piety  pervaded  his  life. 
He  had  stated  times  for  devotion,  and  when  he  prayed,  it  was 
not  as  a  matter  of  form,  but  from  his  heart.  When,  too,  as  he 
often  did,  he  talked  to  his  intimate  friends  of  the  life  to  come, 
Erasmus  tells  Hutten  that  he  evidently  spoke  from  his  heart, 
and  not  without  the  brightest  hope. 

He  was  careful  to  cultivate  in  his  children  not  only  a  filial 
regard  to  himself,  but  also  feelings  of  mutual  interest  and  inti- 
macy. He  made  himself  one  of  them,  and  took  evidently  as  much 
pleasure  as  they  did  in  their  birds  and  animals — the  monkey, 
the  rabbits,  the  fox,  the  ferret,  and  the  weasel.  Thus  when 
Erasmus  was  a  guest  at  his  house.  More  would  take  him  into  the 
garden  to  see  the  children's  rabbit  hutches,  or  to  watch  the  sly 
ways  of  the  monkey;  which  on  one  occasion  so  amused  Erasmus 
by  the  clever  way  in  which  it  prevented  the  weasel  from  making 
an  assault  upon  the  rabbits  through  an  aperture  between  the 
boards  at  the  back  of  the  hutch,  that  he  rewarded  the 
animal  by  making  it  famous  all  over  Europe,  telling  the 
story  in  one  of  his  "  Colloquies."  Whereupon  so  important  a 
member  of  the  household  did  this  monkey  become,  that  when 
,  Hans  Holbein  some  years  afterwards  painted  his  famous  picture 
\  of  the  household  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  its  portrait  was  taken  along 


314  The  Oxford  Reformers  [1519 

with  the  rest,  and  there  to  this  day  it  may  be  seen  nestling  in 
the  folds  of  dame  Alice's  robes. 

If  More  thus  took  an  interest  in  the  children's  animals,  so 
they  were  trained  to  take  an  interest  in  his  pictures,  his  cabinet 
of  coins  and  curiosities,  and  his  literary  pursuits.  He  did  every- 
thing he  could  to  allure  his  children  on  in  acquiring  knowledge. 
If  an  astronomer  came  in  his  way  he  would  get  him  to  stay  awhile 
in  his  house,  to  teach  them  all  about  the  stars  and  planets.  And 
it  surely  must  have  been  More's  children  whom  Erasmus  speaks 
of  as  learning  the  Greek  alphabet  by  shooting  with  their. bows 
and  arrows  at  the  letters. 

Unhappily  of  late  More  had  been  long  and  frequently  absent 
from  home.  Still,  even  when  away  upon  an  embassy,  trudging 
on  horseback  dreary  stages  along  the  muddy  roads,  we  find  him 
on  the  saddle  composing  a  metrical  letter  in  Latin  to  his  sweetest 
children,  "  Margaret,  Elizabeth,  Cicely,  and  John,"  which, 
when  a  second  edition  of  his  "  Epigrams  "  was  called  for,  was 
added  at  the  end  of  the  volume  and  printed  with  the  rest  by  the 
great  printer  of  Basle  ^ — a  letter  in  which  he  expresses  his  delight 
in  their  companionship,  and  reminds  them  how  gentle  and  tender 
a  father  he  has  been  to  them,  in  these  loving  words : — 

Kisses  enough  I  have  given  you  forsooth,  but  stripes  hardly  ever,  | 

If  I  have  flogged  you  at  all  it  has  been  with  the  tail  of  a  peacock!  \ 

Manners  matured  in  youth,  minds  cultured  in  arts  and  in  knowledge,  t 

Tongues  that  can  speak  your  thoughts  in  graceful  and  elegant  language : —  I 

These  bind  my  heart  to  yours  with  so  many  ties  of  affection  i 
That  now  I  love  you  far  more  than  if  you  were  merely  my  children. 

Go  on  (for  you  can!),  my  children,  in  winning  your  father's  affection, 
So  that  as  now  your  goodness  has  made  me  to  feel  as  though  never 
I  really  had  loved  you  before,  you  may  on  some  future  occasion. 

Make  me  to  love  you  so  much  that  my  present  love  may  seem  nothing ! 

What  a  picture  lies  here,  even  in  these  roughly  translated 
lines,  of  the  gentle  relation  which  during  years  of  early  sorrow 
had  grown  up  between  the  widowed  father  and  the  motherless 
children ! 

It  is  a  companion-picture  to  that  which  Erasmus  drew 
in  colours  so  glowing  of  More's  home  at  Chelsea  many  years 
after  this,  when  his  children  were  older  and  he  himself  Lord 
Chancellor.  What  a  gleam  of  light  too  does  it  throw  into  the 
future,  upon  that  last  farewell  embrace  between  Sir  Thomas 

^  Mori  Epigrammata :  Basle,  1520,  p.  no.  The  first  edition  was  printed 
at  Basle  along  with  the  Utopia  in  1518,  and  does  not  contain  these  verses. 


I5I9]  More's  Domestic  Life  315 

More  and  Margaret  Roper  upon  the  Tower-wharf,  when  even 
stern  soldiers  wept  to  behold  their  "  fatherly  and  daughterly 
affection!  " 

This  was  the  man  whom  Henry  VIII.  had  at  last  succeeded 
in  drawing  into  his  court;  who  reluctantly,  this  summer  of  1519,^ 
in  order  that  he  might  fulfil  his  duties  to  the  King,  had  laid  aside 
his  post  of  undersheriff  in  the  city  and  his  private  practice  at  the 
bar;  "  v/ho  now,"  to  quote  the  words  of  Roper,  "  was  often  sent 
for  by  the  King  into  his  traverse,  where  sometimes  in  matters  of 
astronomy,  geometry,  divinity,  and  such  other  faculties,  and 
sometimes  of  his  worldly  affairs,  he  would  sit  and  confer  with  him. 
And  otherwhiles  in  the  night  would  he  have  him  up  into  the 
leads  there  to  consider  with  him  the  diversities,  courses,  motions, 
and  operations  of  the  stars  and  planets. 

"  And  because  he  was  of  a  pleasant  disposition,  it  pleased  the 
King  and  Queen  after  the  Council  had  supped  for  their  pleasure 
commonly  to  call  for  him  to  be  merry  with  them.  Till  he," 
continues  Roper,  "  perceiving  them  so  much  in  his  talk  to  delight 
that  he  could  not  once  in  a  month  get  leave  to  go  home  to  his  wife 
and  his  children  (whose  company  he  most  desired),  and  to  be 
absent  from  court  two  days  together  but  that  he  should  be 
thither  sent  for  again;  much  misliking  this  restraint  of  his 
liberty,  began  thereupon  somewhat  to  dissemble  his  nature,  and 
so  by  little  and  little  from  his  former  mirth  to  disuse  himself."  ^ 

This  was  the  man  who,  after  "  trying  as  hard  to  keep  out  of 
court  as  most  men  try  to  get  into  it,"  had  accepted  office  on  the 
noble  understanding  that  he  was  "  first  to  look  unto  God,  and 
after  God  to  the  King,"  and  who  under  the  most  diflScult  circum- 
stances, and  in  times  most  perilous,  whatever  may  have  been 
his  faults  and  errors,  still 

Reverenced  his  conscience  as  his  King, 
and  died  at  last  upon  the  scaffold,  a  martyr  to  integrity ! 


IX.   THE  DEATH   OF  COLET  (1519) 

Erasmus  was  working  hard  at  his  Paraphrases  at  Louvain, 
when  the  news  reached  him  that  Colet  was  dead  1  On  the  nth 
September  Pace  had  written  to  Wolsey  that  "  the  Dean  of  Paul's 

^  Mackintosh's  Life  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  p.  73,  quoting  "  City  Records." 
*  Roper,  p.  12. 


3i6 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1519; 


had  lain  continually  since  Thursday  in  extremis,  but  was  not  yet^ 
dead."    He  had  died  on  the  i6th  of  September  1519.  I 

When  Erasmus  heard  of  it^  he  could  not  refrain  from  weeping.' 
"  For  thirty  years  I  have  not  felt  the  death  of  a  friend  so  bitterly/' j 
he  wrote  to  Lupset^  a  young  disciple  of  Colet's.  "  I  seem,"  hej 
wrote  to  Pace,  "  as  though  only  half  of  me  were  alive,  Colet  beingj 
dead.  What  a  man  has  England  and  what  Si friend  have  /  lost !  " 
To  another  Englishman  he  wrote,  "  What  avail  these  sobs  andi 
lamentations?  They  cannot  bring  him  back  again.  In  a  little^ 
while  we  shall  follow  him.  In  the  meantime  we  should  rejoice  < 
for  Colet.  He  now  is  safely  enjoying  Christ,  whom  he  always! 
had  upon  his  lips  and  at  his  heart."  To  Tunstal,  "  I  should] 
be  inconsolable  for  the  death  of  Colet  did  I  not  know  that  my; 
tears  would  avail  nothing  for  him  and  for  me;  "  and  to  Bishops 
Fisher,  "  I  have  written  this  weeping  for  Colet's  death.  .  .  .  I 
know  it  is  all  right  with  him  who,  escaped  from  this  evil  and 
wretched  world,  is  in  present  enjoyment  of  that  Christ  whom 
he  so  loved  when  alive.  I  cannot  help  mourning  in  the  public  | 
name  the  loss  of  so  rare  an  example  of  Christian  piety,  so  re-i 
markable  a  preacher  of  Christian  truth !  "  And,  in  again  writing ; 
to  Lupset,  a  month  or  two  afterwards,  a  long  letter,  pouring  his  \ 
troubles,  on  account  of  a  bitter  controversy  which  Edward  Lee  j 
had  raised  up  against  him,  into  the  ears  of  Lupset,  instead  of,  I 
as  had  hitherto  been  his  wont,  into  the  ears  of  Colet,  he^ 
exclaimed  in  conclusion,  "0  true  theologian!  0  wonderful! 
preacher  of  evangelical  doctrine !  With  what  earnest  zeal  did  ' 
he  drink  in  the  philosophy  of  Christ!  How  eagerly  did  he 
imbibe  the  spirit  and  feelings  of  St.  Paul!  How  did  the  I 
purity  of  his  whole  life  correspond  to  his  heavenly  doctrine!;; 
How  many  years  following  the  example  of  St.  Paul,  did  he  teach  | 
the  people  without  reward!"  "You  would  not  hesitate,"' 
finally  wrote  Erasmus  to  Justus  Jonas,  "  to  inscribe  the  name ) 
of  this  man  in  the  roll  of  the  saints  although  uncanonised  by  the  \ 
Pope."  I 

"  For  generations,"  wrote  More,  "  we  have  not  had  amongst  | 
us  any  one  man  more  learned  or  holy !  "  J 

The  inscription  on  the  leaden  plate  laid  on  the  cofhn  of  Dean  > 
Colet  bore  witness  that  he  died  "  to  the  great  grief  of  the  whole  t 
people,  by  whom,  for  his  integrity  of  life  and  divine  gift  of  ;i 
preaching,  he  was  the  most  beloved  of  all  his  time;  "  and  his  | 
remains  were  laid  in  the  tomb  prepared  by  himself  in  St.  Paul's! 
Cathedral.  (? 


ISI9]  Conclusion  317 


X.    CONCLUSION 

With  the  death  of  Colet  this  history  of  the  Oxford  Reformers 
may  fitly  end.  Erasmus  and  More,  it  is  true,  Hved  on  sixteen 
years  after  this,  and  retained  their  love  for  one  another  to  the 
last.  But  even  their  future  history  was  no  longer,  to  the  same 
extent  as  it  had  been,  a  joint  history.  Erasmus  never  again 
visited  England,  and  if  they  did  meet  during  those  long  years, 
it  was  a  chance  meeting  only,  on  some  occasion  when  More  was 
sent  on  an  embassy,  and  their  intercourse  could  not  be  intimate. 

The  fellow-work  of  the  Oxford  Reformers  was  to  a  great  ex- 
tent accomplished  when  Colet  died.  From  its  small  beginnings 
during  their  college  intercourse  at  Oxford  it  had  risen  into 
prominence  and  made  its  power  felt  throughout  Europe.  But 
now  for  three  hundred  years  it  was  to  stop  and,  as  it  were,  to 
be  submerged  under  a  new  wave  of  the  great  tide  of  human 
progress.  For,  as  has  been  said,  the  Protestant  Reformation 
was  in  many  respects  a  new  movement,  and  not  altogether  a 
continuation  of  that  of  the  Oxford  Reformers. 

As  yet  the  "  tragedy  of  Luther  "  had  appeared  only  like  the 
little  cloud  no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand  rising  above  the  horizon. 
But  scarcely  had  a  year  passed  from  Colet' s  death  before  the 
whole  heavens  were  overcast  by  it,  and  Christendom  was  suddenly 
involved  by  the  madness  of  her  rulers  in  all  the  terrors  of  a 
religious  convulsion,  which  threatened  to  shake  social  and  civil, 
as  well  as  ecclesiastical,  institutions  to  their  foundations. 

How  Erasmus  and  More  met  the  storm — how  far  they  stood 
their  ground,  or  were  carried  away  by  natural  fears  and  dis- 
appointment from  their  former  standing-point — is  well  worthy  of 
careful  inquiry;  but  it  must  not  be  attempted  here.  In  the 
meantime,  the  subsequent  course  of  the  two  survivors  could 
not  alter  the  spirit  and  aim  of  the  fellow-work  to  which  for  so 
m^any  years  past  the  three  friends  had  been  devoting  their  lives. 

Their  fellow-work  had  been  to  urge,  at  a  critical  period  in 
the  history  of  Christendom,  the  necessity  of  that  thorough  and 
comprehensive  reform  which  the  carrying  out  of  Christianity 
into  practice  in  the  affairs  of  nations  and  of  men  would  involve. 

Believing  Christianity  to  be  true,  they  had  faith  that  it 
would  work.  Deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity  as 
the  true  religion  of  the  heart,  thp^y  haH  ^i^mftn^pfi,  "^t  so  mwrh 
the  reform  of  particular  ecclesiastical  abusps,  as  t^>at  th^^j^hole 
CKurch  and  the  lives  of  Christians  should  be  reanimated  by  the 


3^8 


The  Oxford  Reformers  [1519^ 


^hristig,gLS^irit.  Instead  of  contenting  themselves  with  urging^ 
^Ke  correction  of  particular  theological  errors,  and  so  tinkering! 
the  scholastic  creed,  they  had  sought  to  let  in  the  light,  and  to^ 
draw  men's  attention  from  dogmas  to  the  facts  which  lay  at  their . 
root.  Having  faith  in  free  inquiry,  they  had  demanded  freedom^ 
of  thought,  tolerance,  education.  | 

Beheving  that  Christianity  had  to  do  with  secular  as  welll 
as  with  religious  affairs,  they  had  urged  the  necessity,  not  onlyj 
of  religious  but  also  of  political  reform.  And  here  again,,j 
instead  of  attacking  particular  abuses,  they  had  gone  to  the  root; 
of  the  matter,  and  laid  down  the  golden  rule  as  the  true  basis  ^ 
of  political  society.  They  not  only  had  censured  the  tyranny,  i 
vices,  and  selfishness  of  princes,  but  denied  the  divine  right  of: 
kings,  assuming  the  principle  that  they  reign  by  the  consent 
and  for  the  good  of  the  nations  whom  they  govern.  Instead' 
of  simply  asserting  the  rights  of  the  people  against  their  rulers, 
in  particular  acts  of  oppression,  they  had  advocated,  on  Christian  • 
and  natural  grounds,  the  equal  rights  of  rich  and  poor,  andi 
insisted  that  the  good  of  the  whole  people  as  one  community] 
should  be  the  object  of  all  legislation.  ~  *! 

Believing  lastly  in  the  Christian  as  well  as  in  the  natural  j 
brotherhood  of  nations,  they  had  not  only  condemned  the  selfish^ 
wars  of  princes,  but  also  claimed  that  the  golden  rule,  instead; 
of  the  Machiavellian  code,  should  be  regarded  as  the  true  basis'! 
of  international  poHtics.  \ 

Such  was  the  broad  and  distinctively  Christian  Reform  urgedi 
by  the  Oxford  Reformers  during  the  years  of  their  fellow-work.j 

And  if  ever  any  reformers  had  a  fair  chance  of  a  hearing  in.^ 
influential  quarters,  surely  it  was  they.  They  had  direct  accessi 
to  the  ears  of  Leo  X.,  of  Henry  VIII.,  of  Charles  V.,  of  Francis  I.; 
not  to  mention  multitudes  of  minor  potentates,  lay  and  eccle- 
siastical, as  well  as  ambassadors  and  statesmen,  whose  influence 
upon  the  politics  of  Europe  was  scarcely  less  than  that  of  princes. 
But  though  they  were  courted  and  patronised  by  the  potentates 
of  Europe,  their  reform  was  refused. 

The  destinies  of  Christendom,  by  a  remarkable  concurrence 
of  circumstances,  were  thrown  very  much  into  the  hands  of  the 
young  Emperor  Charles  V. ;  and,  unfortunately  for  Christendom, 
Charles  V.  turned  out  to  be  the  opposite  of  the  "  Christian 
Prince  "  which  Erasmus  had  done  his  best  to  induce  him  to 
become.  Leo  X.  also  had  bitterly  disappointed  the  hopes  of 
Erasmus.    When  the  time  for  final  decision  came,  in  the  Diet  of 


I5I9]  Conclusion  319 

Worms  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope  were  found  banded  together 
in  the  determination  to  refuse  reform. 

In  the  meantime  the  leadership  of  the  Reform  movement 
had  passed  into  other  and  sterner  hands.  Luther^  concentrating 
his  energies  upon  a  narrower  pointy  had  already,  in  making  his 
attack  upon  the  abuse  of  Indulgences,  raised  a  definite  quarrel 
with  the  Pope.  Within  fifteen  months  of  the  death  of  Colet,  he 
had  astonished  Europe  by  defiantly  burning  the  Bull  issued 
against  him  from  Rome.  And  summoned  by  the  Emperor  to 
Worms,  to  answer  for  his  life,  he  still  more  startled  the  world  by 
boldly  demanding,  in  the  name  of  the  German  nation  from  the 
Emperor  and  Princes,  that  Germany  should  throw  off  the  Papal 
yoke  from  her  neck.  For  this  was  practically  what  Luther  did 
at  Worms  .^ 

The  Emperor  and  Princes  had  to  make  up  their  minds 
whether  they  would  side  with  the  Pope  or  with  the  nation,  and 
they  decided  to  side  with  the  Pope.  They  thought  they  were 
siding  with  the  stronger  party,  but  they  were  grievously  mis- 
taken. Their  defiance  of  Luther  was  engrossed  on  parchment. 
Luther's  defiance  of  them,  and  assertion  of  the  rights  of  conscience 
against  Pope  and  Emperor,  rang  through  the  ages.  It  stands 
out  even  now  as  a  watershed  in  history  dividing  the  old  era  from 
the  new. 

In  the  history  of  the  next  three  centuries,  it  is  impossible  not 
to  trace  the  onward  swell,  as  it  were,  of  a  great  revolutionary 
wave,  which,  commencing  with  the  Peasant  War  and  the  Sack 
of  Rome,  swept  on  through  the  Revolt  of  the  Netherlands,  the 
Thirty  Years'  War,  the  Puritan  Revolution  in  England,  and  the 
foundation  of  the  great  American  RepubHc,  until  it  culminated 
and  broke  in  the  French  Revolution.  It  is  impossible  not  to 
see,  in  the  whole  course  of  the  events  of  this  remarkable  period, 
an  onward  movement  as  irresistible  and  certain  in  its  ultimate 
progress  as  that  of  the  great  geological  changes  which  have 
passed  over  the  physical  world. 

^  Luther  in  his  famous  speech  at  the  Diet,  after  alluding  to  his  doctrinal 
and  devotional  works,  and  offering  to  retract  whatever  in  them  was  con- 
trary to  Scripture,  emphatically  refused  to  retract  what  he  had  written 
against  the  Papacy,  on  the  ground  that  were  he  to  do  so,  it  would  be  *'  like 
throwing  both  doors  and  windows  right  open  "  to  Rome  to  the  injury  of 
the  German  nation.  And  in  his  German  speech  he  added  an  exclamation, 
most  characteristic,  at  the  very  idea  of  the  absurdity  of  its  being  thought 
possible  that  he  could  retract  anything  on  this  point: — "  Good  God,  what 
a  great  cloak  of  wickedness  and  tyranny  should  I  be !  "  See  Forstermann's 
Urkundenbuch  zur  Geschichte  der  evangelischen  Kirchen'Reformation,  vol.  i. 
p.  70:    Hamburg,  1842. 


320  The  Oxford  Reformers  I^^^iq  I 

It  is  in  vain  to  speculate  upon  what  might  have  been  the  result  j 
of  the  concession  of  broad  measures  of  reform  whilst  yet  there  I 
was  time;  but  in  view  of  the  bloodshed  and  misery^  which,  \: 
humanly  speaking,  might  have  been  spared,  who  can  fail  to  be  1 
impressed  with  the  terrible  responsibihty,  in  the  eye  of  History,  fi 
resting  upon  those  by  whom,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  the  reform  y 
was  refused  ?  They  were  utterly  powerless,  indeed,  to  stop  the  | 
ultimate  flow  of  the  tide,  but  they  had  the  terrible  power  to  turn,  j 
what  might  otherwise  have  been  a  steady  and  peaceful  stream,  ' 
into  a  turbulent  and  devastating  flood.  They  had  the  terrible  j 
power,  and  they  used  it,  of  involving  their  own  and  ten  sue-  j 
-ceeding  generations  in  the  turmoils  of  revolution. 


ath. 

fi3 


APPENDIX  A 


ON  THE  DATE  OF  MORE'S  BIRTH 

The  following  correspondence  in  Notes  and  Queries  (October  1868) 
may  be  considered,  I  think,  to  set  at  rest  the  date  of  Sir  Thomas 
More's  birth. 

No.  I  (October  17,  1868) 

"  Some  months  ago  I  und  the  following  entries,  relating  to  a 
family  of  the  name  of  Mo.^^  on  two  blank  leaves  of  a  MS.  in  the 
Gale  collection,  in  the  library  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  The 
class  mark  of  the  volume  is  '  O.  2.  21.'  Its  contents  are  very  mis- 
cellaneous. Among  other  things  is  a  copy  of  the  poem  of  Walter 
de  Biblesworth,  printed  by  Mr.  Thomas  Wright  in  his  volume  of 
Vocabularies  from  the  Arundel  MS.  The  date  of  this  is  early 
fourteenth  century.  The  n-  res  of  former  possessors  of  the  volume 
are  '  Le :  Fludd  '  and  '  G.  .rew  ' ;  the  latter  being  probably  Sir 
George  Carew,  afterwards  ]  -xl  of  Totness.  The  entries  which  I 
have  copied  are  on  the  last  jeaf,  and  the  last  leaf  but  one  of  the 
volume.  I  have  added  the  dates  in  square  brackets,  and  expanded 
the  contractions: 

"  '  Md  quod  die  dominica  in  vigilia  Sancti  Marce  Evangeliste 
Anno  Regni  Regis  Edwardi  quarti  post  conquestum  Anglie  quarto- 
decimo  Johannes  More  Gent,  maritatus  fuit  Agneti  filie  Thome 
Graunger  in  parochia  sancti  Egidij  extra  Crepylgate  london. 
[April  24.  1474.] 

"  '  Med  quod  die  sabbati  in  vigilia  sancti  gregorij  pape  inter 
horam  primam  &  horam  secundam  post  Meridiem  eiusdem  diei 
Anno  Regni  Regis  Edwardi  quarti  post  conquestum  Anglie  xvo  nata 
fuit  Johanna  More  filia  Johannis  More  Gent.      [March  11,  1474-75.] 

"  '  Md  quod  die  veneris  proximo  post  Festum  purificacionis  beate 
Marie  virginis  videlicet  septimo  die  Februarij  inter  horam  secundam 
et  horam  terciam  in  Mane  natus  fuit  Thomas  More  filius  Johannis 
More  Gent.  Anno  Regni  Regis  Edwardi  quarti  post  conquestum 
Anglie  decimo  septimo.     [February  7,  1477-78.] 

"  '  Md  quod  die  dominica  videlicet  vltimo  die  Januarij  inter 
horam  septimam  et  horam  octauam  ante  Meridiem  Anno  regni 
Regis  Edwardi  quarti  decimo  octauo  nata  fuit  Agatha  filia  Johannis 
More  Gentilman.     [January  31,  1478-79.] 

"  '  Md  quod  die  Martis  videlicet  vjto  die  Junij  inter  horam  deci- 
mam  &  horam  vndecimam  ante  Meridiem  natus  fuit  Johannes  More 
filius  Johannis  More  Gent.  Anno  regni  Regis  Edwardi  quarti  vice- 
simo.     [June  6,  1480.] 

"  '  Med  quod  die  lune  viz.  tercio  die  Septembris  inter  horam 

321  L 


322  The  Oxford  Reformers 

secundam  &  horam  terciam  in  Mane  natus  fuit  Edwardus  Moore 
filius  Johannis  More  Gent.  Anno  regni  regis  Edwardi  iiijti  post  con- 
questum  xxjo.     [September  3,  148 1.] 

"  '  Md  quod  die  dominica  videlicet  xxijo  die  Septembris  anno 
regni  regis  Edwardi  iiijti  xxij"'  inter  horam  quartam  &  quintam  in 
Mane  nata  fuit  Elizabeth  More  filia  Johannis  More  Gent.'  [Septem- 
ber 22,  1482.] 

"  It  will  be  seen  that  these  entries  record  the  marriage  of  a  John 
More,  gent.,  in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate,  and  the 
births  of  his  six  children,  Johanna,  Thomas,  Agatha,  John,  Edward, 
and  Elizabeth. 

"  Now  it  is  known  that  Sir  Thomas  More  was  born,  his  bio- 
graphers vaguely  say,  about  1480  in  Milk  Street,  Cheapside,  which  is 
in  the  parish  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate;  that  he  was  the  son  of  Sir 
John  More,  afterwards  Lord  Chief  Justice,  who,  at  the  time  of  his 
son's  birth,  was  a  barrister,  and  would  be  described  as  '  John  More, 
gent.';  and  that  he  had  two  sisters,  Jane  or  Joane  (Wordsworth's 
Eccl.  Biog.  ii.  49),  married  to  Richard  Staff erton,  and  Elizabeth, 
wife  to  John  Rastall  the  printer,  and  mother  of  Sir  William  Rastall 
(bom  1508),  afterwards  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Queen's  Bench. 

"  The  third  entry  above  given  records  the  birth  of  Thomas,  son 
of  John  More,  who  had  been  married  in  the  church  of  St.  Giles, 
Cripplegate,  and  may  be  presumed  to  have  lived  in  the  parish. 
The  date  of  his  birth  is  February  7,  1477-78;  that  is,  according 
to  modern  reckoning,  1478,  and  therefore  '  about  1480.'  Oddly 
enough,  the  day  of  the  week  in  this  entry  is  wrong.  It  is  Friday, 
which  in  1477-78  was  February  6.  But  Thomas  was  born  between 
two  and  three  in  the  morning  of  Saturday,  February  7.  The  con- 
fusion is  obvious  and  natural. 

"  The  second  and  last  entries  record  the  births  of  his  sisters 
Johanna  and  Elizabeth.  The  former  of  these  names  appears  to 
have  been  a  favourite  in  the  family  of  Sir  John  More,  and  was  the 
name  of  his  grandmother,  the  daughter  of  John  Leycester. 

"  I  may  add,  that  the  entries  are  all  in  a  contemporary  hand,  and 
their  formal  character  favours  the  supposition  that  they  were  made 
by  some  one  familiar  with  legal  documents,  and  probably  by  a 
lawyer. 

"  This  remarkable  series  of  coincidences  led  me  at  first  to  believe 
that  I  had  discovered  the  entry  of  the  birth  of  Sir  Thomas  More. 
But,  upon  investigation,  I  was  met  by  a  difficulty  which  at  present 
I  have  been  unable  to  solve.     In  the  life  of  the  Chancellor  by 
Cresacre  More,  his  great-grandson,  the  name  of  Sir  Thomas  More's 
mother  is  said  to  have  been  '  Handcombe  of  Holliwell  in  Bedford- 
shire.'    This  fact  is  not  mentioned  by  Roper,  who  lived  many  years 
in  his  house,  and  married  his  favourite  daughter,  or  by  any  other  of 
his  biographers.     The  question,  therefore,  is  whether  the  authority 
of  Cresacre  More  on  this  point  is  to  be  admitted  as  absolute.     He 
was  not  born  till  nearly  forty  years  after  Sir  Thomas  More's  death,   j 
and  his  book  was  not  written  till  between  eighty  and  ninety  years  | 
after  it.     We  must  take  into  consideration  these  facts  in  estimating  j 
the  amount  of  weight  to  be  attached  to  his  evidence  as  to  the  name  1 
of  his  great-great-grandmother.  \ 


Appendix  A  323 

"  Were  there  then  two  John  Mores  of  the  rank  of  gentlemen, 
both  apparently  lawyers,  living  at  the  same  time,  in  the  same 
parish,  and  both  having  three  children  bearing  the  same  names ;  or 
was  John  More,  who  married  Agnes  Graunger,  the  future  Chief 
Justice  and  father  of  the  future  Chancellor?  To  these  questions, 
in  the  absence  of  Cresacre  More's  statement,  the  accumulation  of 
coincidences  would  have  made  it  easy  to  give  a  very  positive  answer. 
Is  his  authority  to  be  weighed  against  them  ? 

"  Stapylton's  assertion  that  Sir  Thomas  More  had  no  brothers 
presents  no  difficulty,  as  they  may  have  died  in  infancy.  The 
entries  which  I  have  quoted  would  explain  why  he  was  called 
Thomas,  after  his  maternal  grandfather. 

"  If  any  heraldic  readers  oi  Notes  and  Queries  could  find  what  are 
the  arms  quartered  with  those  of  More  upon  the  Chancellor's  tomb 
at  Chelsea,  they  would  probably  throw  some  light  upon  the  ques- 
tion. Mr.  Hunter  describes  them  as  '  three  bezants  on  a  chevron 
between  three  unicorns'  heads.' 

"  William  Aldis  Wright. 

"  Trinity  College,  Cambridge." 

No.  2  (October  31,  1868) 

"  There  can,  i  think,  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  Mr.  Wright's 
discovery  has  set  at  rest  the  perplexing  question  of  the  true  date  of 
Sir  Thomas  More's  birth.  In  the  note  in  the  Appendix  to  my 
Oxford  Reformers  I  was  obliged  to  leave  the  question  undecided, 
whilst  inclined  to  believe  that  the  weight  of  evidence  preponderated 
in  favour  of  the  received  date — 1480.  What  appeared  almost  in- 
controvertible evidence  in  favour  of  1480  was  the  evidence  of  the 
pictures  of  Sir  Thomas  More's  family  by  Holbein.  The  most  cer- 
tainly authentic  of  these  is  the  original  pen-and-ink  sketch  in  the 
Basle  Museum.  Upon  Mechel's  engraving  of  this  (dated  1787), 
Sir  Thomas's  age  is  marked  '  50,'  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  picture 
is  the  inscription,  '  Johannes  Holbein  ad  Vivum  delin. :  Londini: 
1530.'  This  seemed  to  be  almost  conclusive  evidence  that  he  was 
born  in  1480.  If  Sir  Thomas  was  born  in  February  1478,  accord- 
ing to  the  newly  discovered  entries,  and  was  fifty  when  the  picture 
was  sketched  by  Holbein,  the  sketch  obviously  cannot  have  been 
made  in  1 5  30,  but  two  or  three  years  earlier. 

"  Now  if  it  may  be  supposed  that  the  sketch  was  made  during 
the  summer  or  autumn  of  1527,  I  think  it  will  be  found  that  all 
other  chronological  difficulties  will  vanish  before  the  newly  dis- 
covered date. 

"  I.  More  himself  would  be  in  his  fiftieth  year  in  1527. 

"  2.  Ann  Cresacre,  marked  on  the  sketch  as  '  15,'  would  have 
only  recently  completed  her  fifteenth  year,  as,  according  to  her 
tombstone,  she  was  in  her  sixty-sixth  year  in  December  1577;  and 
according  to  the  inscription  on  the  Burford  picture  she  was  born  in 
3  Henry  VIII. 

"3.  Margaret  Roper,  marked  on  the  sketch  '22,'  would  be  born 
,  in  1505  or  1506,  and  this  would  allow  of  More's  marriage  having 


324  The  Oxford  Reformers 

''  4.  Sir  Thomas  would  be  forty-one  in  July  1 5 19,  and  this  accords  j 
with  Erasmus's  statement  in  his  letter  to  Hutten  of  that  date  \ 
(Epist.  ccccxlvii.) — '  ipse  novi  hominem,  non  majorem  annis  viginti 
tribus,  nam  nunc  non  multum  excessit  quadragesimum.'  He  would  i 
be  only  one  year  past  forty.  Erasmus  first  became  acquainted  : 
with  More  probably  in  the  course  of  1498,  when  (being  born  in  \ 
February)  he  was  in  his  twentieth  year.  The  '  viginti  tribus  '  must  i 
in  any  case  be  an  error.  i 

"5.  John  More,  jun.,  marked  '  19  '  in  the  sketch,  would  be  '  more  i 
or  less  than  thirteen  '  as  reported  by  Erasmus  in  1521.     {Epist.  dcv.)   j 

"  6.  More's   epigram,    which   speaks   of   '  quinque   lustra '    {i.e.   i 
twenty-five  years)  having  passed  since  he  was  '  quater  quatuor '   { 
(sixteen),  and  thus  makes  him  forty-one  when  he  wrote  it,  would   | 
(if  he  was  born  in  1478)  give  15 19  as  the  date  of  the  epigram;   and 
this  corresponds  with  the  fact,  that  the  Basle  edition  of  1518  {Mori 
Epigrammata,  Froben)  did  not  contain  it,  while  it  was  inserted  in 
the  second  edition  of  1520. 

"  7.  There  is  a  passage  in  More's  History  of  Richard  III.,  in 
which  the  writer  speaks  of  having  himself  overheard  a  conversation 
which  took  place  in  1483. 

"  Mr.  Gairdner,  in  his  Letters,  etc.,  of  Richard  III.  and  Henry  VII. 
(vol.  ii.  preface,  p.  xxi),  rightly  points  out  that,  if  bom  in  1480, 
More,  being  then  only  three  years  old,  could  not  have  remembered 
overhearing  a  conversation.  But  if  bom  in  February  1478,  he 
would  be  in  his  sixth  year,  and  could  easily  do  so. 

"  On  the  whole,  therefore,  the  newly  discovered  date  dispels  all 
the  apparent  difficulties  with  which  the  received  date  is  beset,  if 
only  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  true  date  of  the  Basle  sketch  was 
1527,  and  not  (as  inscribed  upon  Mechel's  engraving  and  upon  the 
English  pictures  of  the  family  of  Sir  Thomas  More)   1530. 

"  Since  I  published  my  Oxford  Reformers  I  have  obtained  a  photo- 
graph of  the  Basle  sketch  itself,  which  dispels  this  difficulty  also,  as 
it  bears  upon  it  no  date  at  all. 

"  The  date,  1530,  on  the  pictures  appears  to  rest  upon  no  good 
authority.  Holbein,  in  fact,  had  left  England  the  year  before.  I 
therefore  have  little  doubt  that  the  remarkable  document  dis- 
covered by  Mr.  Wright  is  perfectly  genuine. 

"  Should  the  arms  quartered  with  those  of  More  upon  the  Chan- 
cellor's tomb  at  Chelsea  prove  to  be  the  arms  of  '  Graunger,'  the 
evidence  would  indeed  be  complete. 

"Frederic  Seebohm. 

"  Hitchin." 

No.  3  (October  31,  1868) 

•  Mr.  Wright  will  find  the  lineage  of  Sir  Thomas  More  and  his 
father  discussed  at  some  length  in  my  Judges  of  England,  vol.  v. 
pp.  190-206;  and  I  have  very  little  doubt  that  the  John  More  whose 
marriage  is  recorded  in  the  first  entry  was  the  person  who  after- 
wards became  a  Judge  (not  Chief  Justice,  as  Mr.  Wright  by  mis- 
take calls  him),  and  that  Thomas  More,  whose  birth  is  recorded  in 
the  third  entry,  was  the  illustrious  Lord  Chancellor.     The  only 


Appendix  A  325 

difficulty  arises  from  John  More's  wife  being  named  '  Agnes  daughter 
of  Thomas  Graunger  ' ;  but  this  difficulty  is  easily  discarded,  since 
Cresacre  More,  who  wrote  between  eighty  and  ninety  years  after 
the  Chancellor's  death,  is  the  only  author  who  gives  another  name, 
and  his  other  biographer,  who  wrote  immediately  after  his  death, 
gives  the  lady  no  name  at  all. 

"  John  More  married  three  times;  and  he  must  have  been  a  very 
young  man  on  his  first  marriage  with  Agnes  Graunger  (supposing 
that  to  be  the  name  of  his  first  wife) ,  by  whom  only  he  had  children. 

"  I  have  stated  in  my  account  that  there  were  two  John  Mores 
who  were  contemporaries  at  a  period  considerably  earlier,  one  of 
Lincoln's  Inn  and  the  other  of  the  Middle  Temple.  Of  the  lineage 
of  the  latter  there  is  no  account ;  but  of  the  former  I  have  stated  my 
conviction  that  he  was  the  father  of  the  John  More  whose  marriage 
is  here  recorded,  and  consequently  the  grandfather  of  Sir  Thomas 
More;  and  thus,  as  both  the  John  Mores  had  originally  filled  de- 
pendent employment  in  Lincoln's  Inn,  the  modest  description  of 
his  origin  given  by  Sir  Thomas  in  his  epitaph,  *  familiS,  non  celebri, 
sed  honesta  natus,'  is  at  once  accounted  for. 

"  Edward  Foss." 

No.  4  (October  31,  1868) 

"  Permit  me  to  set  your  correspondent  right  in  a  minor  parti- 
cular, which  he  looks  to  as  confirming  his  theory,  though  I  trust  he 
may  be  able  to  substantiate  it  otherwise.  Mr.  Wright  says — '  Milk 
Street,  Cheapside  ...  is  in  the  parish  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate ' : 
it  is  not  so,  as  several  parishes  intervene;  Milk  Street  is  within  the 
walls,  whereas  St.  Giles's  is  without.  Mr.  Wright  might  have  seen 
this  by  the  wording  of  his  first  quotation: — '  in  parochia  Egidij 
extra  Crepylgate ' ;  the  word  '  extra '  implies  beyond  the  walls. 
Milk  Street  is  in  the  ward  of  Cripplegate  Within,  not  in  the  parish 
of  St.  Giles  Without,  Cripplegate — a  distinction  not  obvious  to 
strangers. 

"  A  great  part  of  the  district  now  called  Cripplegate  Without 
was  originally  moor  or  fen:  we  have  a  Moorfields,  now  fields  no 
more;  and  a  '  More '  or  Moor  Lane.  I  cannot  suppose  the  latter 
to  have  been  named  after  the  author  of  Utopia:  but  as  he  really 
emanated  from  this  locality,  possibly  his  family  was  named  from 
the  neighbouring  moor.  The  Chancellor  bore  for  his  crest  *  a 
Moor's  head  affront6e  sable.'  I  would  not  wish  to  affront  his 
memory  by  adding  more,  but  your  readers  will  find  something  on 
this  subject  antd,  3rd  S.  xii.  199,  238.  "  A.  H." 

No.  5  (November  5,  1868) 

"  I  am  indebted  to  your  correspondents,  Mr.  Foss  and  A.  H., 
for  their  corrections  of  two  inaccuracies  in  my  paper  on  Sir  Thomas 
More.  Fortunately,  neither  of  these  affects  the  strength  of  my 
case.  It  is  sufficient  that  Milk  Street  and  the  church  of  St.  Giles', 
Cripplegate,  are  so  near  as  to  render  it  probable  that  a  resident  in 
the  one  might  be  married  at  the  other.     If,  therefore,  for  '  the 


326 


The  Oxford  Reformers 


same  parish  '  I  substitute  '  the  same  ward,'  my  case  remains  sub-  j 
stantially  as  strong  as  before.  My  mistake  arose  from  not  ob-  j 
serving  that  the  map  in  Strype's  edition  of  Stow's  Survey,  which  I  ■ 
consulted,  was  a  map  of  Cripplegate  Ward,  and  not  of  the  parish  of  I 
St.  Giles'.  I 

"  Before  writing  to  you,  I  had,  of  course,  consulted  Mr.  Foss's  i 
Judges  of  England,  but  found  nothing  there  bearing  upon  the  point  j 
on  which  I  wanted  assistance,  viz.,  the  name  and  arms  of  Sir  Thomas  | 
More's  mother.  "  William  Aldis  Wright.       \ 

"  Trinity  College,  Cambridge." 


Appendix  B 


327  i 


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INDEX 


Alcor,   Alfonso    Feruaudez,    Arch- 

deacou  of,'  quoted,  107 
Amerbach,  Johann  (printer  of  Basle), 

188 
Ammonius,  137,  158,  168,  176,  287 
Aquinas,  the  Summa  Theologies  of, 

65,  66,  74,  75 
Augustine,  writings  of,  9,  31,  24,  48- 

49,  253,  272  et  seq.,  295,  309 
Augustinian  System,  and  the  Oxford 

Reformers,  309-11 

Baptista,  Dr.,  sons  of,  114 

Battus,    tutor    to    Marchioness    de 

Vere,  101-2 
Bembo,  secretary  to  Leo  X.,  200 
BoviUe,  letter  from  Erasmus,  250 

Chalcondyles,  8 

Charles,  Prince  (afterwards  Em- 
peror Charles  V.),  i74,  191,  230,1 
265,  270,  302 

Charnock,  Richard,  the  Prior,  head 
of  the  College  of  St.  Mary  the 
Virgin  at  Oxford,  56-58,  61,  71, 
loi,  105 

Colet,  John,  family  of,  14,  15,  156, 
249;  early  travels  and  studies  of, 
8-10;  return  to  Oxford,  13;  on  St. 
Paul's  Epistles,  i,  18;  method  of 
exposition,  19;  on  human  ele- 
ment in  Scriptures,  20;  MS.  on 
Romans,  19-24;  acquaintance 
with  Thomas  More,  14;  first  hears 
of  Erasmus,  16;  conversation  on 
St.  Paul's  writings,  24;  letter  to 
Abbot  of  Winchester,  26 ;  letters  on 
the  "  Creation "  to  Radulphus, 
25-33 ;  abstracts  of  the  Dionysian 
writings,  35-45 ;  lectures  on  Corin- 
thians, 46-53 ;  opinions  on  Pseudo- 
Dionysian  writings,  54-55;  re- 
ception and  relationship  with  Eras- 
mus at  Oxford,  56  et  seq. ;  corre- 
spondence with  Erasmus,  72,  77, 
79, 103, 134, 155-56,  190,  247,  258; 
made  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  83;  his 
work  in  London,  84-86;  relation- 
ship with  More,  90  et  seq.\  on 
"Self-sacrifice,"  127-28;  St.  Paul's 
School  founded,  early  difficulties, 


etc.,  128-36;  school  completed, 
155;  school  praised  by  Erasmus, 
156;  statutes  of  school  fixed,  289; 
sermon  to  convocation  of  15 12, 142 
et  seq.;  charged  with  heresy,  and 
persecuted  by  Fitzjames,  157;  re- 
sumes preaching,  158;  sermon 
against  Henry  VIII. 's  wars,  162; 
defended  by  Henry  VIII.  against 
Fitzjames,  163;  visits  Canterbury 
with  Erasmus,  179  etseq.;  sermon 
on  installation  of  Cardinal  Wolsey, 
214;  illness,  288;  views  on 
marriage,  290;  makes  his  will, 
292;  retirement  from  public  life, 
302;  death,  315;  character  of, 
316;  Colet's  preferments,  see 
Appendix  B 

Colt,  Jane,  More's  first  wife,  98,  iii, 
119,  159,  312 

Convocation  of  1512,  130  et  seq.,  142 
et  seq. 

Dionysius,    the    Pseudo-Areopagite, 

35-45,  54-55 
Dorpius,     Martin,     correspondence 

with  Erasmus,  195-96,  247 

Eck,  Dr.,  272-74,  303 

EpisiolcB  Obscurorum  Virorum,  255- 
57 

Erasmus,  history  and  character  prior 
to  arrival  at  Oxford,  56-57;  re- 
ception at  Oxford,  57;  con- 
versations with  Colet  at  Oxford, 
59-65,  70-76;  letter  to  More,  68; 
first  impressions,  of  England,  69; 
at  court,  76;  leaves  Oxford,  81; 
correspondence  with  Colet,  72,  77, 
79,  103,  134,  155-56,  190,  247,  258; 
leaves  for  Dover,  82;  robbed  at 
Dover,  99;  detained  in  England 
owing  to  poverty  and  ill-health, 
99-101;  friendship  with  Battus 
and  Marchioness  de  Vere,  100-2; 
Adagia,  100,  109;  Enchiridion, 
loi,  106-7;  preface  to  Valla's 
Annotations,  109-10;  second  visit 
to  England,  iii;  visits  Italy,  112, 
114-16;  description  of  German 
inns,  114;    takes  doctor's  degree 


329 


33'^ 


The  Oxford  Reformers 


at  Turin,  115;  returns  to  Eng- 
land to  More's  house  on  accession 
of  Henry  VIII.,  116;  Praise  of 
Folly,  119-25,  194;  visits  Cam- 
bridge, 126;  views  on  schools,  129- 
31;  De  Copid  Verborum,  133, 155; 
On  the  true  Method  of  Education, 
133-34;  discussions  with  the  Scot- 
ists,  135;  defends  Colet's  School, 
155;  epigram  on  battle  of  Spurs, 
168;  at  Walsingham,  169;  work  at 
Cambridge,  172 ;  leaves  Cambridge, 
173;  invited  to  court  of  Prince 
Charles,  173;  letter  to  Abbot  of 
St.  Bertin,  174;  dispute  with  Car- 
dinal Canossa,  175;  visits  Canter- 
bury with  Colet,  179  et  seq.\  pro- 
ceeds to  Basle,  183;  letter  to 
Servatius,  184  et  seq.;  accident  at 
Ghent,  186;  reaches  Mainz  and 
Strasburg,  187;  reaches  Basle, 
187;  introduced  to  Froben,  188; 
returns  to  England,  190;  letters  to 
Rome,  191;  satire  upon  kings, 
193;  replies  to  Dorpius,  196; 
reaches  Basle,  197;  the  Novum 
Instrumentum  and  its  prefaces — 
the  Paraclesis,  etc.,  199-208,  247- 
49,  252;  St.  Jerome,  208;  In- 
stitutio  Principis  Christiani,  229- 
36;  Paraphrases  and  other  works, 
246;  mentioned  in  Eptstolcs  Ob- 
scurorum  Virorum,  255 ;  denounces 
international  scandals  and  in- 
dulgences, 263,  266-67, 271 ;  arrival 
at  Basle,  272;  attacked  by  the 
plague,  272 ;  correspondence  with 
Eck,  272;  labours  at  Basle,  274; 
letter  to  Volzius,  275-76;  second 
edition  of  New  Testament  and  Ratio 
Veres  Theologies,  277-84;  ill  at 
Louvain,  285 ;  letter  to  Rhenanus, 
286;  opinion  of  Luther  and 
Melanchthon,  299-301 ;  corre- 
spondence on  the  Hussites  of 
Bohemia,  303  et  seq.;  on  The 
Church  and  Toleration,  305-7; 
grief  at  the  death  of  Colet,  315; 
opinion  of  Colet's  character,  315 

Ferdinand  of  Spain,  161,  191,  225 
Ficino,    Marsilio,   5-8,    11,   22;     De 

Religione  Christiana  of,  6 
Fisher,  Bishop,  250;  correspondence 

with  Erasmus,  258,  270,  316 
Fisher,  Christopher,  105,  109 
Fisher,  Robert,  70 
Fitzjames,  Bishop  of  London,  137- 

38,  141-42,  149.  153-57,  190,  292 


Flodden,  Battle  of,  168 
Fox,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  89,  249   | 
Froben,    John,   187-89;    mentioned; 
in  Epistoles  Obscurorum  Virorum  | 

257  \ 

Gerson,  3  ■ 

Giles,  Peter,  237-39,  243  | 

Grocyn,  8,  14,  69,  86,  90,  104,  112;  ; 

opinion     of      Pseudo  -  Dionysian  i 

writings,  54-55 ;    preface  to  Lin-  , 

acre's  Proclus,  50  \ 

Grotius,  Hugo,  231  '■ 

Hatstein,  Marquard  von,  293-94 
Henry  VII.,  4,  84,  87-88,  98,  117 
Henry  VIII.,  81,  118,  137,  161-69, 

191,  210,  265,  268-69  j 

Holbein,     Hans,    woodcut    by,    in 

Utopia,   248 ;    portrait  of  More's  ] 

family,  313;  see  also  Appendix  A  j 
Howard,  Sir  Edward,  Admiral,  163,  f 

167  ) 

Hussites  of  Bohemia,  303  et  seq.         j 
Hutten,  Ulrich,  301,  302,  311  1 


Indulgences,  sale  of,  263-66 
Isabella  of  Spain,  4 


Jerome,   Colet's    opinion    of    works  ; 
of,  9,  24,  71,  72 ;  Erasmus'  opinion 
of    works   of,    272-73 ;     Erasmus  ■ 
edits  works  of,  196-97 
Jonas,  Justus,  316  j 

Julius  II.,  Pope,  160-3;  satire  on,  by  | 
Erasmus,  124;  Julius  de  ccelo  ] 
exclusus,  267  i 

Latimer,  William,  249  j 

Lee,  Edward,  295,  316 

Leo  X.,  Pope,  166,  200,  208,  263 
et  seq. 

Lilly,  William,  89  et  seq.,  iii,  133, 
292 

Linacre,  8,  70;  translation  of  Pro- 
clus, 50;  letter  to  Erasmus,  114; 
Latin  Grammar,  133 

Lollards,  The,  137  et  seq. 

Lorenzo  de'  Medici,  5,  6,  8,  9,  10,  34  i 

Louis  XII.  of  France,  161,  168,  191  ; 

Luther,  Martin,  251,  252,  255,  295,  > 
299,  303;  reform  of,  contrasted  ' 
with  that  of  Oxford  Reformers'  j 
308,  311  i 

Lystrius,  Gerard,  188;  notes  to 
Praise  of  Folly,  193,  194,  264  ■ 

Machiavelli,  his  School  of  Politics'  j 
201,  202,  230  j 

Macrobius,  5,  33-34  J 


Index 


331 


Martins,  Thierry,  printer  at  Lou- 
vain,  229,  236,  243,  285,  286,  301 
Maximilian,  161,  302 
Melanchthon,  Philip,  251,  298,  300 
More,  Thomas,  early  history  and 
character  of,  up  to  arrival  at 
Oxford,  14,  15;  meeting  with 
Erasmus,  68,  69;  visits  royal 
nursery  with  Erasmus  and  Arnold, 
81 ;  lectures  on  Augustine's  De 
Civitate  Dei,  86;  enters  parlia- 
ment, 87;  seeks  retirement  after 
offending  Henry  VII.,  88;  in- 
fluence of  Colet,  90;  study  of 
Pico  della  Mirandola,  92-97; 
marriage,  98;  connections  with 
Henry  VIII.,  117-18;  Erasmus 
writes  Praise  of  Folly  at  his  house, 
119;  on  Colet's  School,  155; 
public  duties,  159,  210;  History 
of  Richard  III.,  210;  death  of 
first  wife,  and  re-marriage,  21^ 
embassy  to  Flanders,  214 ;  Utopia 
216-28,236-44;  visit  to  Coventry 
259-62;  embassy  to  Calais,  268 J 
enters  service  of  Henry  VIII.,  269 ; 
at  court,  286;  letter  to  University 
of  Oxford,  287;  correspondence 
with  the  monks,  294-97;  char- 
acter and  domestic  life,  311-15; 
opinion  of  Colet,  316;  see  also 
Appendix  A 
Morton,  Cardinal,  4,  14,  159,  242 
Mountjoy,  Lord,  56,  69,  81,  101, 
104,  126,  183,  295 

Origen,  works  of,  9,  103,  107,  279 

Pico  della  Mirandola,  10-12;  Hepta- 
plus,  34;  translation  of  works  of, 
by  More,  92-97 

Plotinus,  5,  8,  9,  24 

Pole,  De  la,  81 

Politiar,  8,  10 


Pomponatius,  201 
Proclus,  5 

Radulphus,     correspondence     with 

Colet,  25-33 
Reuchlin,  187,  191,  258-59 
Rhenanus,   Beatus,   i88,    193, 

271,  286 


246, 


Sadolet,  secretary  to  Leo  X.,  199 
Sapidus,  John,  187 
Savonarola,  10-13,  97,  98 
Saxony,  Frederic,   Elector  of,  299, 

303 

Schlechta,  Johannes,  correspond- 
ence with  Erasmus,  304-7 

Servatius,  correspondence  with 
Erasmus,  310,  313 

Sherbom,  Robert,  Bishop  of  St. 
David's,  84 

Spalatin,  George,  letter  to  Erasmus, 
252 

St.  Andrews,  Archbishop  of,  113, 160 

St.  Bertin,  Abbot  of,  loi,  174,  186 

St.  Paul's  School,  128-36, 155-56,289 

Tunstal,  214;   letter  from  Erasmus 

315 
Tyndale,    18,    82;     translation    of 

Enchiridion,  107 

Valla,  Laurentius,  109 
Vere,  Marchioness  de,  100-2 
Volzius,  letter  from  Erasmus,  275 

Warham,  Archbishop,  113,  126,  157 
Winchcombe,  Abbot  of,  letter  from 

Colet,  26 
Wolsey,  Cardinal,  137,  141,  190,  214, 

215 

Ximenes,  Cardinal,  4 
Zisca,  John,  304 


[ 


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